Anything Can Be Art: Pet Photos!

Anything can be art! It's true...

I recently assisted my mom with a simple, easy and inexpensive artwork project. She took a few photos of her dogs and then I took the digital files to Sam's Club to get them printed. Sam's Club is great because they have the photo kiosks that are so easy to use to play around with your image until you get it looking exactly how you want. For the look we were after, I zoomed in on the dog's heads and turned the images into black and white using the kiosk. I was able to get the two 11x14 prints for $7...a steal! (Bonus: they were ready in 1 hour!) My mom bought the black frames with the matting for $18 each. Total cost of the project was about $43!

What do you think? Cute, huh!?!? Black and white pet photos could add a little whimsy and fun to almost any room!

Reupholstery!!

The good news...I found a pair of mid-century lounge chairs that I love at a great price! (Found the chairs at Furniture Lounge of course!)

The bad news...they were a mustard yellow color that just wasn't going to work!

Solution: Reupholstery!


BEFORE:




AFTER:

LOVE the way they turned out! I'm not going to lie...reupholstery is not cheap...but it can be a great way to customize a special piece!

I had my heart set on contrast piping and it just so happened that my mom had the perfect black fabric on hand for the piping...perfect! The two chairs sit by an iron and glass table, yellow footstool and striped lamp...a great place to read, enjoy a beverage or watch TV! I found the yellow and grey throw pillows at a wonderful Etsy shop called Idari...check out her pillows in such fun fabrics at a great price!

"What Will It Bee?" Baby Shower

I recently had the pleasure of co-hosting a baby shower for a good friend of mine. We chose a bumble bee theme that incorporated the fact that they didn't know if the baby was a boy or girl...the theme was "What Will It Bee?". It should be no surprise that when we split up duties for the shower among the co-hosts that I chose invitations and decorations! It was so much fun putting it all together!

I purchased an invitation template from an Etsy shop called Sweetbeets to get it all started. (It also included templates for a banner, notecard, favorboxes and a punch sheet) These printable templates are awesome! I was emailed a link to the files (very quickly might I add!), customized them and printed them myself. What a great way to get the look of custom invitations cheaper and quicker!! I chose to spice up the invitation by mouting it on black cardstock and attaching a black and white gingham ribbon at the top. The only other template file I used was the punch sheet...I used different sized circle punches and sprinkled the circles down the middle of the tables and adhered a punched out circle to the top of each placemat.

Here are some photos of the party:




The favors for each guest were a small bottle of Burt's Bees hand lotion and a few Bit O' Honey candies wrapped up in a little tulle and tied with a ribbon.

The cake was made to match the invitation by the Lovin Oven Cakery in Libertyville...they did a fabulous job and it was delicious too!

A mod and fresh baby shower for a mod and fresh momma-to-bee! This is the guest of honor...doesn't she look fantastic!

Have yourself a merry little MODERN Christmas!

Christmas is a fun time of the year to highlight your modern decor with a mod decorated tree!

Nothing quite says mid century Christmas than a silver tree! A vintage aluminum tree would be amazing, but since those are a little hard to find, for now I will use my silver tinsel tree. I have decorated it with red and white ornaments...handmade red and white polkadot bows, glass candy cane ornaments, red glass spiral ornaments and much more!

My mom's black and white Christmas tree is amazing! Check it out! She has a 7ft artificial white tree and has decorated it with some beautiful black, white and silver ornaments. She has quite a bit of "bling" on her tree too, which is really fun...reinstone word ornaments, black crystal sprays, and glittery high heel shoe and handbag ornaments. Lovely!


I think this black and white look would also look great with a real flocked tree if you want to have a real tree in the house! Growing up, my grandmother always had a real flocked tree in her house and it was awesome. For many years she decorated it only with purple bows and purple glass ball ornaments...an awesome modern look!

In keeping with our color schemes, both my mom and I wrap our gifts exclusively in corrdinating wrapping....paper, ribbon, bags, etc. It is so much fun to be on the hunt for a new paper or roll of ribbon that coordinates with our trees...such a great feeling when you find something new! The coordinating wrapped gifts under the tree really complete the look!

Happy New Year!

Create your own pop art!

One of my favorite art projects in my house is my Marilyn Monroe pop art feature wall in my home office...check it out!


I found these Marilyn photos on wooden plaques at TJ Maxx for under $20 each. I thought that they needed a bold color background so that the black and white photos would really "pop" off the wall. I put my old chrome and black futon in my office and thought that a bright red would add some life to the room...perfect! Measuring and taping off the rectangle shape was the hardest part of this project and takes some time so that your rectangle looks centered on the wall and has nice sharp edges.

Measure...tape...paint...hang photographs...done!

Looks kind of Andy Warholish to me...love him!

I think this same concept would be really cool with personal photographs or portraits in black and white...imagine using a vintage b&w photo of a family member, portraits of your children, fun photo of your pet, etc....lots of possibilities! Give it a try in your house!

Vintage Find: Amazing mid-century artwork!

Let me introduce you to my new amazing vintage artwork! I recently purchased these these 3 pieces at Furniture Lounge in downtown Urbana, IL. I'm not sure about the background or history of these particular pieces, but for some reason I think they are from the 1960's. They are teardrop shaped wooden plaques painted with images of bottles...the turquoise blue on the plaques matches the walls in my dining room PERFECTLY! They were meant to be mine!

I have an awesome black & white photo of my grandparents' old diner in my dining room currently...the wooden plaques add some great color to the space and look amazing flanking the windows in that room! I also love how the natural wood border of the art pieces tie in with the hardwood floors and my kitchen cabinets...perfect!

Vintage Find: Haeger Potteries Lamp

A little trip yesterday afternoon to my favorite store, Furniture Lounge, and I now have some great new vintage pieces for my house! I scored two tables, a lamp and some artwork...all amazing mid-century vintage items.

Love, love, love this lamp! The base and shade were sold seperately and my mom put the two together for an awesome pair. The base is a vintage Haeger Potteries lamp made out of light yellow ceramic and black metal. The shape reminds me a bit of a lava lamp! The shade is made out of fiberglass and has abstract swirls of black and copper all over it with black plastic cord whipstiching on the top and bottom. Don't they look great together!?!




The lamp now sits on one of the new tables...a two-tiered black metal table with smoked glass on top of both tiers...lovely vignette!


Stay tuned for another post about the vintage artwork I scored...