DIY Canvas Art: Washi Tape and Interior Paint

Today, when I went to Target, I discovered Washi Tape. It's so awesome and probably my new found-love! I was looking for duct tape but Washi tape is a sort of masking tape in which you can use as a design on many things. I needed a quick and easy design for my 3 foot x 3 foot canvas. It is quite large but since it was in my closet taking up space, I decided today was the day that I'd get it out of my closet and up on a wall. 

I used the exact same green paint (interior paint) that is in the teen bedroom below. My main colors are teal/light blue, bright/neon green and purple (of all shades). I know, the pillow situation is a disaster but I can't do that until next month due to budget. Also haven't decided what the pillow arrangement will look like.. so yeah. Her pillows have lost all shape and form, they just sag as if gravity got to them too. It's a terrible mess and I apologize for showing them (and still having them)! 

At Target, I actually went twice since I decided on the second run, I did want the bikes design on the Washi Tape. It is retro and just looked nifty. The first run I had only bought white glossy duct tape. Unfortunately, I can't find the blue Washi Tape that I used (it has a feather, wavy like design) online; it's not even on the Target website where I got it! Crazy. Apparently they have nothing for Washi under Search. I also couldn't find the exact bike pattern. Ironically, when I googled for it, I got images of actual bikes being Washi Taped!! I was like, wow, I'll buy that bike! Any how, there are a ton of designs on this cool site, Wishy Washi Tape and they are priced $1.00 less than Target. At Target, the tape is on sale at $2.99 and each mini roll is 10 feet. 

After painting the entire canvas that same green as her walls, I carefully placed the duct tape at the top first, then the bottom, the middle and in between those lines. It helps to ensure it will be spaced out evenly doing it that way. Some of it still seems slightly crooked, oh well. I guess a DIY project will come with some artist flaws. Any how, it's still better than anything I can find at Ross, Marshalls, or any other Home Decor place I go to. Nothing is NEW, it's all like the same art and/or same colors used - always. I just wish they opened their horizon and made some cool retro stuff in the art department. But I guess that's where I come in. And I am probably the worst artist ever. I attempted the idea of chevron and I could not get the lines to look even so I gave up that idea real quick. Pinterest misleads you into thinking that's an easy project! So if you're thinking of doing Chevron and you find a super easy way to do it, holler at me because I'm clueless. My second favorite design are stripes. They are probably the easiest to do for me. Below you can see two closer viewpoints of the canvas. 

even closer....

And for the finale.... here it is hanging on the wall. It looks a bit lost up there so I may need to figure out how to get it ... less lost. The pillow situation will probably help bring it forth once I get that. So, the canvas was really easy to do, only took me half a day to complete since the sun is at 110 degrees right now and the heat dried the canvas twice in less than 10 minutes. I didn't have to wait forever for it to dry which was great! 

And now that I see the image clearly... I know that I definitely need teal pillows to bring in the lamp so it doesn't stick out like a sore thumb, although surprisingly there is teal in the duvet cover (which is Paisley Pop by Pottery Barn)... I think that will help bring it all in! 

Well, thanks for reading and looking at my art. I hope it inspires you to buy some Washi tape if nothing else! LOL. Okay, tatta for now.

A Pre-Teen to A Teen Bedroom Do-Over

It's been a while since I've blogged any "Do It Yourself" stuff but my hubby and I were having some money problems so I couldn't upgrade anything. We had doctor bills, his dad to pay off (from a personal loan), student loans, IRS and all our utility bills. It was up to $1,200 and when our rent is $1,288 and Child Support at $1,700 we were falling behind - badly. We were fortunate enough to finally get paid commissions on a project that was DUE over a year ago. Hallelujah! We are thankful that it came in this month. 

First off, here are the PRE pictures that I just found (7/23/2013) sorry. I knew I took them but I finally found them on an SD card. I have lots! 

So I went to Wally World since I kept seeing this Neon Green paint that was considered "mistinted" but I thought it was the perfect color to go with her Pottery Barn Paisley Pop Duvet. I know, the pillow situation is a mess and some of those pillows look gross. I may go back to Wally and get their cheap but nice standard pillows as well as a Teal Flat Sheet since that light blue one doesn't quite fit the bed right - and it has a hole. Any how, back to the paint. It's a bright neon green and Glidden brand. It took two layers to paint the wall that was painted burgundy. And practically one layer for the rest since those were still white. 

I paint by hand and without dumping the paint into a tray. I find that very wasteful. I have used 1 can so far for 2 walls. I still have enough to complete one more wall but right now my wrist is feeling some carpel tunnel so I'm taking the rest of the day off. Painting takes me forever but I realize it gives me something to focus on for hours and I produce less waste, therefore I don't need to go to the paint guy at Walmart and ask for more. I paid $10.92 for the can (that you see on the desk). I try very hard to never pay for the full retail price of paint since I like to save and become creative by using what I have. 

I actually think the brown looks really nice now that I see it in the photo as I was thinking of buying a white desk. Now I think I'll stick to brown but that specific one has to go. The drawer is broken ... may just keep my eye out for a desk at Goodwill or something that I can touch-up. Target has one I like a lot but I'm not sure if the quality of it is really worth $189.. so I'm keeping my eyes open. 

There's the unpainted wall and I'm not sure if it's going to stay white or be a different color... since I don't have enough paint for this side. A target shelf with towel bar is on the bed but I'm going to use it for her school supply stuff since I'll add plastic bins on hooks to the towel bar. Easy access and cute look.

Kids Bathroom Remodeled at Less than $50 USD

Hey there,

When I went to work this morning on the kids bathroom and taking off the green masking tape for my stripe design I posted yesterday I was hating the color combo. It clashed way too much even though the colors, individually, are great. I guess it looked better on Pinterest or in my mind but Rich Navy and  Yellow did not work for me. I decided to use Charcoal Gray that I had in my leftover paints collection (yes, I do keep all of those!) and paint over the Navy.

After letting it dry for an hour, I applied another layer of paint and used a small painting brush to re-adjust the lines and my oopsies' marks and to fill in the corners with the gray paint. Using a large paint brush on the wall corners always messes me up and I get paint on the ceiling. You know that always ruins the job. Fortunately, I've learned to use a small brush for those corners and get a clean finish.

I must admit, I thought I was going to make my own shower curtain but Target just happened to have a clearance on 6 or 7 different shower curtains as low as $4 and high as $9. Shower curtains at Target usually range from $19.99 to $24.99 which is an okay price but I couldn't resist the $5.98 shower curtain that had a Black * White print - and no, it's not Zebra.

Ross is next door to my Target, which is quite nice for my shopping convenience. I bought a metal Wall Holder for $16.99 which was large enough to fit towels since my kids bathrooms has no wall space available for rods. Arizona houses are weird like that - they forget to make a bathroom convenient. I attempted to put up my towel holder with Molly bolts and that was a complete fail. The molly's broke while I was screwing it in and became permanently stuck in the wall so I just hammered it in all the way and redid it without Molly's. The job seemed to be easier to do without them even though every construction guy I know has said always use molly's - yeah? then why do they break so easily! Stupid plastic.

I also love love love the Salon and Body section that Ross has. This may sound absolutely dorky but I got Bath Bubble Soap and Handsoap in yellow, so it matched the colors of the bathroom. I know, I know but if it was purple, it would ruin "the look", ya know? Anyhow, those were $2.99 and $3.99.

To calculate my total cost in repainting and redecorating the kids bathrooms (although I still need bath rug, sink rug and I think I want a blue shower matte in the tub since it seems kinda dirty)...

• Walmart - Yellow Oops Paint: $10.97 (+ AZ 9.1% Tax) = $11.97
• Target - Shower Curtain: $5.98 (+ 9.1% Tax) = $6.52
• Ross - Wall Hanger + Le Jardin Handsoap and Ardsley Honey Bubble Soap = $23.97 (+ 9.1% Tax) = $26.15

The total of the bathroom comes out to $42.46 

A Bath Mat at Target is $14.99, well the one I'm looking at in Blue is which is pushing my budget. I'm not sure if Ross has them but I think I've seen them there before. I want it long enough that it takes up the entire tub though so will need to measure! 

The bath rug and sink rug I can't decide what color I want - yellow, white or black. I have a few days to decide but today is not the day. 

Here's a picture of what my kids bathroom now looks like. 

I can't redo the cabinets since I'm a renter but I was given permission to change the wall colors and when my landlady visited me last, she loved the colors I chose for the house - so I think I'm in the clear. Plus, paint is one of the easiest things to change in a house. I'd love to put one of those cool circular mirrors in place of the large mirror but I don't want to break the glass...

Any how, I think I want a picture underneath the wall holder... seems like a big yellow spot but maybe it's just my camera viewpoint... Either way, I'm done for the day in there. Hopefully the kids will find it cool and want to actually use their own shower now... 

Redesigning the Kids Bathroom

Sorry for not posting in so long. I have had the worst case of allergies out here in Arizona. My eyes are very itchy, runny nose at night and waking up a lot to blow my nose. I'm taking cold medication which seems to help a little during the day. I tried the Netti Pot and while it flows through like it should, I'm still extremely congested.

Anyhow, I've been meaning to get back to my projects and this weekend was the beginning of it.

The kids share one bathroom. It wasn't a friendly looking bathroom either so I thought while I had the weekend to myself - my husband went to Florida for his mothers' memorial - I wanted to upgrade their bathroom into something that's both masculine and feminine. It used to be this weird sponge color of brown and burgandy and while it looked decent, it's not very appealing for the kids to use as theirs.

Here is what the bathroom looked like yesterday while painting it:

I put the ladder in the tub and stabilized it so it didn't move around at all. I know you're seeing no light-bulbs in the sockets but we only keep one in there to keep energy levels low. It does look quite silly so I'm thinking about changing the light situation to one scone or two - haven't gotten to the point yet where that decision is necessary. 

Here's the other side of the bathroom. It's kind of a small bathroom and a weird triangle shape. 

The following pictures are today's work and yes, I'm probably the slowest painter in the world but I hate rollers. They are messy and ruin everything and I don't own tarp or cloth that I can happily ruin. I use a hand brush and while it's slow, I get it done within a day.  

I bought the paint at Walmart. It was in the Oops section and for half off. It was marked mistinted but the color seemed great to me. It was one of the choices I was looking for without breaking the bank. It's a pastel yellow which looks great with the Rich Navy color I also got from Walmart. 

I was kind of nervous doing stripes but I really think the navy wall needed some blend of the yellow. I started  to use the masking tape at the very top and very bottom of the wall section that I was going to create the stripes. I then met the tape halfway in the middle and then separated again. The green masking tape will remain navy in reality and the yellow, while larger than the navy stripe, will hopefully look cool and "retro". These colors are out of the norm for many bathroom households but the brown and red just kills me now. I can't tolerate it. It's so cliche and everyone has them. 

For decor, I took out the towel rack over the toilet since it was a bad location for towels to begin with and when I was at Ross the other day, I saw a $19.99 towel rack wall hanger that seemed pretty cool and very fitting for the overall look I want in this shower. 

The shower curtain rod will likely remain the same one, unless I can find one at Ross, but there's no demand for it, really, I'll just clean up the one we have. I ordered on eBay a blank canvas shower and I plan on making a black and white chevron shower curtain since the one's that I like pre-made are Urban Outfitters and cost around $40. I'd rather spend the $5 for the bank canvas shower curtain and another $4 for the spray paint can. I'm not sure how I'm going to create the Chevron look without being uneven and sloppy looking but I'll look at other blogs to guide me. 

Hopefully this will be done by tomorrow and I'll have the remaining pictures up - except for the shower curtain, since that did not arrive in today's mail. Thanks for viewing and hopefully this turns out as planned !! 

Weekly Meal Planners or Menus

I took this weekend to spend some time looking at recipes and figuring out what everyone will want to eat this weekend. This month has been a bad budget month since we are over on our monthly budget of $400 on food as well as spending on gas and restaurants. My hubby had to pay out of pocket for a business trip which he is supposed to be reimbursed for but right now, we are $450 out of money. The hotel was $230 for 2 nights and did not have a fridge. We couldn't stock up on groceries and save. We had to eat out which cost us another $150. And let's not mention the gas it took to get to his destination! I think we spent $70 every day on gas for 3 days. We drove 7 hours and over 300 miles. While the weekend event was enjoyable, our wallets are hurting now that rent is due on the 1st and we don't have enough. But hopefully the landlady will let us pay on the 3rd.

I have been checking out everyone's meal planners and while I do like the idea of pre-planning meals, my family does not all agree on one meal. The kids don't like the adult food and while we try to eat healthy, they sometimes just want to eat Ramen noodles or Waffles, even for dinner. Instead of creating one-meal choices per day, I did a restaurant style menu where people can choose what they want to eat based on the ingredients we have. When the item can not be made for the rest of the week, I'll cross it out or mark the Menu to let them know we are out and not running to the store for that until the following week.

I also made a section for Requests. Since this isn't a restaurant, I think it's a good idea that my family can request foods that they want to eat for the following week/weekend. If no requests are made, then I (who shops) gets to choose the menu items.

Here's what it looks like and what we eat on a regular basis.

I strongly believe in eating meat at dinner-time as it fills up everyone's bellies very quickly and the price of meat is pretty reasonable when bought in bulk. I like bulk items! That doesn't mean I like Costco. That's another ball-game. I just shop at my local Fry's (grocery store) and since it's less than a mile from my house, it's super convenient. If their cereal's are buy $5 and save $5, then I buy them. I tend to check out what their 5-for-5 or 10-for-10 deals are since I can stock up for two weeks on many items instead of one week. Things that are usually 10-for-10 are pastas and asian foods, such as Rice boxes. I tend to buy the bag in bulk instead.

All the summer foods (or poolside snacks) can be purchased at the Dollar Store too, such as chips, dips and sodas. I tend to stay away from those until it's 120 degrees outside in Arizona and only have them around when the kids are here (Friday after school to Sunday evening).

If you guys have any recommendations on kids meals besides Mac n Cheese since they are not big on that, leave a comment! It's hard to satisfy them being so picky but they do enjoy the fruits and yogurts. The youngest one won't eat until you put it in front of him; his "busy" schedule just makes him forget to eat. The older one though eats a lot! She is always snacking so I need to come up with affordable snacks, unlike the Fiber One bars or Oats N Honey crackers. Her favorites are now ridiculously expensive so I'm learning to substitute but she's not quite learning to accept the "unbranded" kind. We'll see. Kids are kids.

DIY: Patio Chairs

I really had zero intentions of doing anything outside today when I first woke up; however, the cool wind and not-so-terribly hot sun made for a perfect day to fix up some outside furniture without spending over $20.00 on supplies.

I fortunately had two (2) spray-paints of Rustoleum Flat White to spray my two (cedar wood, I think) bar stools for my outside bar. These bar stools were kind of handed down to us, but if you don't have bar stools and you really want some, Goodwill has great ones as low as $19.99 a piece. They are easy to fix and upgrade. After I had spray-painted the chairs white, I had to run to Home Depot to get an extra white. I was using Rustoleum Flat White. When I realized the chairs were way too bright, I decided to go with a Dark Gray Spray Paint and Navy. I prefer dark gray over light; looks better that way.

I didn't bother sanding or priming, unless you call spray-painting it white first, "priming" because that I did do. I don't see the point in sanding, priming and then sealing. These chairs are not going to last probably another year; this is just temporary. Plus my Black & Decker Sanding charger was stolen out of my garage, so I cannot sand. Any how, I used Acrylic paint that I had in Blue and painted the rest dark gray. The dark gray paint can be used for exterior but I doubt Acrylic can be, which is why I am going to use my Polyurethane Sealer tomorrow (letting the paint seep into the pores of the wood for a good 15 hours) and seal the paint from UV exposure. In Arizona, things go bad very quickly when not protected with any sort of sealant. Usually my chairs are in the shade too so they don't see too many hours of sun, with the exception of mornings.

Here are my end results on my first chair. The second chair will probably be done tomorrow. I think they turned out cute, now I just need to figure out what wonderful fabric I want on my cushions....

The brown cushions will be re-covered at a later date since they obviously don't match but for now, in case my man wants to sit outside tonight, the cushions stay.

Memorial Book Created via Blurb

Hey there,

I have been away from the blogging world because I had a deadline to meet on finishing my book for someone special. I used the site Blurb to create the Memorial Album. My husband's mother passed away March 2nd and I had this little idea to put her life into a book via pictures. I got to know her in a very different way by doing this. My husband does not know I have created this book but he does know I am up to something since I asked all family members to send me their photos of his mother.

His mother passed away due to Parkinson's and while it was diagnosed in late 2010, I could clearly see the changes in her face and posture as early as the '90's. Based on these photos, I truly believe she should have been diagnosed then instead of late 2010; however, she is gone now so I cannot say much. All I know is she lived a good life and had no enemies. She was kind and loved animals. She was even kind to those who weren't so kind to her. She died at age 70 while her twin sister lives on in sorrow.

I created a Memorial Album on Blurb for her twin sister to pay my respects to the family, as I am new, and to insure that the memory lives on. I cannot make it to the Memorial being held in the state she resided in so the least I could do is provide a sentimental gift that would mean the world to only those who knew her and loved her.

My husband will get his own copy on next paycheck. I created 28 pages (that is if you include the hard-cover and two blank pages at the end). Some photos are in color and some in black and white. It took me roughly 30 hours combined to complete the scanning of the images, editing them and sorting them by year. My deadline was Friday but I am two days late - even though the real deadline was the book had to be received before her Memorial Date, May 5th. Mission accomplished. The entire cost of the book was going to be $44 but I found a 15% discount coupon online and was able to only pay $38.94 for a 28-page colored album hard-cover with dust-jacket book.