Crazy Cat Dolly Pop Art Tutorial

I'm so glad you're here checking out project #6 in Mod Podge Week! Today we're using the original Mod Podge matte for photo transfer to make some insanely fun pop art. Oh, and you're interested in painting your own pop art, check out this tutorial from photo to software to transferring to canvas.

Click to read more ...

Floral to Mod Geometric - Framed Art Makeover

So one day I was driving to town. Not the 'the city' but my town which is still about a 15 minute drive from my house. There's only 3 reasons for me to go this way.

1. The Country Boy. Our little and slightly overpriced grocery store where the bag boys still take your groceries out to your car and will politely continue on with you even when you insist that you can handle it by yourself. I love this place because mostly because I love employees with good attitudes and manners. You just don't find that anymore.
2. Snowcone stand. Because I am a freak about snowcones - Bahama Mama extra juice, blackberry with cream, margarita with salt, and good old fashioned blue coconut served as is. The snowcone ladies at the different stands around here know me and they only see me one season out of the year.
3. Braum's Ice Cream and Dairy Store for the most amazing milk and ice cream Oklahoma ever has seen. If you're coming to Oklahoma or just passing through and see a Braum's, stop and grab a chocolate shake and some fries. Seriously amazing.

The only one I can rule out is the snowcone stand because it was still too cold out, not that it matters in the grand scheme of things. What I do remember is whipping a U-Turn to pick up some roadside road kill. Along with a sign sayin "FREE" were two very floral sofas and a big, big picture in a humongous frame. That frame was gonna be mine. I pulled into their drive and Russell quickly did the grab and wave to the house. Thanks! 

There is absolutely no place in this house for this image. It's nice enough but it is SO not my taste. Not even in an ironic way. So I did what I do and I turned it into something that I absolutely love. 

And there she is all new and improved and totally Allison-style. Would you have recognized it? I know Russell who did the grab didn't at first. Best part was that this project only cost $3.19 for the new black matte. This is why I will ALWAYS stop to check out free stuff on the side of the road. I've got no shame about it!!!

Click to read more ...

Gigantic Peg Board Cross Stitch Wall Art

I was standing in Home Depot looking for a piece of precut plywood that was just right but I didn't find it. But I DID find 2' x 4' piece of peg board. I grabbed it and started walking toward the back. Russell "What are you doing with that?" Me: "I'm going to have it cut." Russell: "Why?" Me: "Because I'm going to make a huge-ass cross stitch out of it." Russell: "..."

Click to read more ...

Wall Hung Test Tube Vase Tutorial

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of iBulb for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

Lately I've been getting into cut flowers again. I went without them for budgetary reasons so long that I forgot how nice they are. Truly. This go I went with lilies and as I'm sitting here typing this, the smell of them is so incredibly wonderful that I want to have them around every day! And I figure that I'm worth it to treat myself every once in a while and lilies are perfect because they won't make me fat (like chocolate would) and they won't break the bank (like, say, and iPad would). 

For a while now I've wanted to craft with test tubes. In fact, I've had some saved to my crafty wish list on Amazon for ages. So when the opportunity to craft with lilies came up, I knew exactly what the plan was going to be. A wall hung test tube vase set!

Click to read more ...

Architect Prints, Grown Up & On the Cheap

Just like me I'm sure that you have seen that you can print architect's prints at Staples for ridiculously cheap. Since I took down all of the art off of my walls when it no longer matched with my current redo, I thought a huge print of one of my favorite black and white images would be absolutely perfect.

So I used the online ordering thingamajiggie and picked it up my massive print the next day for a cool $7 and change and I was supremely excited. Now from what I had seen, people were just tacking these suckers on the wall and it looked perfectly respectable.

In my case I had two problems. First, I felt like a teenager with a poster tacked to my wall. But the truth is that I wouldn't even tack a poster to my wall as a kid. My pride and joy of my bedroom design in middle school were my framed Degas and Renoir prints. And while I was a huge fan, no ratty, angsty bedroom full of Nirvana posters for this gal. In a lot of ways I wasn't normal.

My second issue is the fact that the cat shown on the bed above, Max a.k.a. Dummy was constantly being taunted by the very slight shadows cast by the pins holding the image to the wall. He'd jump and scrape his way down the wall repeatedly. I'm really surprised that the print survived it, to be honest, with nothing more than a few, small rips.

Click to read more ...

LOVE Letters - Cardboard

I think that I like decorating for holidays like Valentine's Day more in theory than in practice. For instance, I had ideas for projects out the wazoo, but in the end I would decide to spend my crafting dollar somewhere else. After all, decorating up for every holiday is fun but it can get pricey. Besides I don't exactly have closets upon storage sheds upon garages of extra space to hang on to everything.

And when I was working it out I figured, why would someone who doesn't craft partially for a living want to spend their crafting budget the same way? The answer I came up with for myself was, they probably wouldn't. So, while I'm not trying to put thoughts into your head, I'm also not making a V-Day mantle decor that'll cost you $30. 

Click to read more ...