I’m so making this. Love.

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This gift wrap is so rustic and simple, not to mention extremely inexpensive. All you need is brown postal paper, green raffia ribbon and homemade Wordle gift tags in the color scheme of your choice. I chose the “moss” color scheme and inserted all sorts of lovely Christmas words, making sure to insert the gift recipient’s name multiple times so that it shows up nice and large. Happy holidays!

While snapping gift photos, I took this one of my tree in manual focus. I love how it turned out!

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In honor of the one and only Instagram, I thought I’d shoot this how-to via Instagram! (You can totally follow me on twitter here.)

I like to create memory art after we travel. Example A: Italy Memory Art. Our recent trip to Seattle coincided with me getting my hands on an iphone, which means I was able to document our vacation with vintage-looking square-shaped photos. Awesome. I immediately knew that I wanted to make coasters out of them! We’ve been needing some new coasters anyway.

Materials

• 4×4″ Square Tiles ($0.16 each at the Home Depot)
• 4″ Printed Instagram Photos
• Mod Podge (Michael’s)
• Paint Brush or Foam Brush (Michael’s)
• Felt Sheets (Michael’s)
• Acrylic Sealer (Michael’s)

Before we get started, there are three ways to print your Instagram photos. You could order them online from some fancy (a.k.a. expensive) specialty Instagram printing company. You could print them from your computer onto photo paper (not copy paper, as this will not hold up to the Mod Podge). Or, if you don’t have a nice printer with photo paper, you can print them from your favorite photo shop. This final option takes a little editing before you can send them off. I had to add a thick white border on Picnik (my favorite online photo editing software), then crop to a 4×6 so that the 4″ square Instagram photo could easily but cut to size after printing. Here is a quick screen shot of the editing process:

Ok, let’s get started!

1. Lay the tiles out on some newspaper and cover them in a light coat of Mod Podge.

2. Place pictures on the tiles. Let sit for about an hour.

3. Paint over the surface of the picture and tile edges with Mod Podge. Let dry and repeat this process at least 2 more times. As you can see, mine is streaky and imperfect because I used an old paint brush with issues, but I like it that way. If you want yours nice and smooth with minimal imperfections, you should use a brand new foam brush.

4. Apply an acrylic sealer to the finished surface. This step is crucial, as it makes the surface waterproof. If you skip this step, the Mod Podge will turn back into glue as soon as anything wet touches it.

5. Apply a coat of Mod Podge to the bottom of the coaster, then attach a square piece of felt. Let dry.

6. Apply MANY coats of acrylic sealer. When you think you have enough, test out one coaster for a little while. If you see any water marks, dry it off and keep applying that sealer. It’ll work eventually!

That’s it! Enjoy you’re new Instagram coasters!!!

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After recently redecorating our living room and bedroom, I see that we need some splashes of bright colors and patterns to balance out the comfy and plain. This chevron painting is the first splash, and I hope to collect some colorful pillows and a throw for the bed in the future. A little bit at a time. I may even get a wild hair up my ass and paint those bedside tables teal. For some reason I see that happening. Crazy?

I’m going to walk you through this incredibly simple process. Here’s what you need:

• Something to paint on (I used a piece of framed art that I couldn’t stand anymore. Just flipped the plywood over and painted the back.)
• Yard stick
• Pencil/chalk
• Base paint color
• Stripe paint color
• Paint brush
• Painter’s/masking tape

1. Paint the base color. I had to paint multiple layers of white since it wasn’t a primed piece of wood. Let dry completely.

2. Measure and mark where your stripes will be using this how-to guide via Apartment Therapy. This is not the kind of project that you can just paint freehand. You need to measure. Trust me. My lines are two inches apart, but I wish I had made the zig-zags a bit further apart. They are almost plain stripes. Oh well, I still love it.

3. Connect the dots with masking tape or painter’s tape. You need to be super precise here as well. Don’t worry, the fun part is next.

4. Paint! Now that the tape is down, this is super simple and fun.

5. Pull the tape off immediately after you paint your stripes. If the paint is not too thick, this won’t be a problem for you. I prefer to pull the tape off before it has a chance to dry because I’ve seen the tape pull off freshly dried paint before.

And you’re done! Super easy stuff, friends! But seriously should I paint those bedside tables teal or what? I’m asking you too, Hubs.

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{photo credit: There’s a Dragon in My Art Room}

Holy crack, you guys. I’m so incredibly addicted to Pinterest. It is literally sucking all of the time of the day and night away from me, which is exactly why I put it off this long. I KNEW this would happen. I’ve been on Pinterest for one week and am pinning more than any sane woman should.

That being said, HOW AMAZING IS THAT SHIT WE CALL PINTEREST?!?!?!

I’m getting so many DIY Christmas gift ideas.

For the newlyweds.

{photo credit: Cranny Found Favorites}

For the ladies. It’s a $3 plate and a $4 clock kit. Word.

{photo credit: Making Time TC}

For the busy family.

{photo credit: Crossing Fences}

I’m even finding ideas for improving our humble abode on a budget.

Totally painting our outdated, gold-plated chandelier black.

{photo credit: Apartment Therapy}

And I’m sooo adding this above the bed, but with a mustard yellow and white chevron design. Can’t. Wait.

{photo credit: Creative Influences}

You know what the added bonus is? Free therapy. Free stress relief. Bonus.

P.S. If you follow me on Twitter, you will find me on Pinterest. Win/win.

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So I did something a little crazy just now…at 6am.

I took quite the leap of faith and did something I’ve been thinking about doing for a while.

I started an ETSY SHOP!  Can you believe it?  That just happened.  Now, as of this moment, I only have one painting listed, and that’s the one you just saw on J to the B’s blog.

I know my new shop is bare and pathetic, but just deal for now mmmmmkay?  I have a few more paintings to add and a bit of photography as well.  This is HUGE!

So if you like what I painted for Joy’s giveaway, you can purchase it for yourself.  How neat.  I love technology.

P.S. I’m on twitter, yo.

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Well, today I’m sending her this painting.

That I just finished.

Five minutes ago.

I made two of them actually.  One to give away and one for her to keep.  Cause I know how much she loves bikes.

This took me forever to complete.  Believe it or not, drawing the spokes of a bicycle is pretty darn difficult.

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Dude, I’m so proud of my painting!  Of course, its still a work in progress, but it looks so good already! And the look on The Hubs’ face when he saw it was so awesome.

He was like, “Leave it just like this! Don’t change a thing!”

And I was like, “No, it needs red flowers to compliment our new red armchair.”

And he was all, “Yeah, you’re totally right, as always, my beautiful loving wife.”

And then he walked outside and saw that I accidentally spray painted the brick on the front porch and took back everything he said.

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Good Morning all, ‘the Nerd’ asked me to write a guest post and specifically asked for something crafty, hopefully this will be ‘crafty’ enough for you all.

I was totally blown away with how easy this is and how common it is to find this crocheted lace, but that’s not to say that you can’t use other material too. I think this would work with regular lace or even ribbon.

Here is what you need:

Vintage Crocheted Lace

Mod Podge & Paint Brush

Piece of Cardboard

Vintage Jewelry Findings

Jewelry pliers

Beads(optional)

1.      Take some crocheted lace and iron it so that all the kinks and wrinkles are out of it. Then cut the lace to the desired length.

2.      Lay the lace on the cardboard and using your paintbrush, cover the entire front with mod podge, turn over and repeat. Move the piece of lace off the spot where you mod podged onto a clean area on the cardboard. Continue to turn the lace over every so often so it doesn’t stick to the cardboard.

3.      After it has completely dried and your lace is stiff but moveable, take your findings and attach a clasp onto each side. I used a vintage 3 ring clasp.

4.      If desired you can add beads/faux pearls to the top. You will need to sew these on, as hot glue wouldn’t hold.

5.      You are finished! Clasp on your wrist and off you go!

I hope you enjoyed this simple and quick project! Enjoy!

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What are pant clips, you ask?  Well, they are little suspenders for your jeans.  They keep even the skinniest of jeans from bunching up around your knees when you wear boots.  Lovely, right?  RIGHT!

*Photo courtesy of Bits and Bobbins and Lucky Magazine.

I’ve searched for them and even found a pair for $2.50 online, but the shipping was $10 for some reason, so I just decided to make my own.  I used an awesome photo tutorial from Bits and Bobbins.

I can’t wait to try these out!

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