A Tutorial: Ellison's Scalloped Walls...

I have had a lot of questions about how I painted the scallops in Ellison's bedroom, so I decided to do a tutorial.

Two things you should know first:

1. I do not at all claim that this is the easiest way of going about painting scallops!
This is just my way!
If any of you have an easier, more efficient system, by all means...share your knowledge!

2. I apologize in advance for the pictures of my process. They were taken at night under terrible lighting, but this is all I've got!
The reason they were taken at night is because that is when I do my painting. Yep - that's my secret! With three small kids running around, it is pretty much impossible to get any kind of painting done during the day, so once everyone is tucked soundly in their beds, that's when my paint brushes come out!
In the case of Ellison's bedroom, I had her in her pack-n-play in my bedroom so that I could get her room done!

Whatever works, right?

Now that my disclaimer is out of the way, onto the how-to...

You will need:

a level (a long one),

a pencil (or something to mark on your walls),

a saucer (or a round object that fits the size that you want your scallops to be),

and painters tape

First, I used the painter's tape to create a center line on the saucer. The top edge of the tape divides the saucer exactly in half. This is important because...

...the points where the tape wraps around the back are the marks that you will use to line up your scallops. If you haven't created perfect half-circles your scallops will look "off".

(Take note: this is where the bad pictures begin. Click on the image and it will enlarge...hopefully you will be able to see the details better)

The first thing I did in her room was pick the height I wanted the scallops to sit at. I wanted them to be above the tallest point on her crib, so that was the determining factor for me.
I painted my top and bottom colors up to a centralized line.
Once the paint was dry, I took my 4' level and marked the line all the way around the room.
I then took my saucer, which had already been taped off, put it against the wall with the bottom of the plate facing me, and where the tape folded over the edge is where I lined up the plate with the level line.

Sheesh. I hope that makes sense...

I then used my pencil to lightly trace the bottom of the saucer onto the wall.

You can see it here:

...and here...

Once I had traced my saucer all the way around the room, I grabbed my paintbrush and filled them in with the pink...

And then...did it again.
It needed two coats...

It was A LOT of work, but when it comes to kids rooms, I'm more of a "Go big, or go home!" kind of person, so doing this was completely worth it to me!

Once they were done I felt like they were good, but....missing something.

So each scallop got a polka-dot above each point...

I did the polka-dots by using one of these...

...in the absolute smallest size I could find. I wanted the dots to be dainty and petite.

A little helpful tip about these pouncers:

Swirl. Don't dab! And make sure that you swirl a complete circle.

Trust me on this one!
It will save you the frustration and agony of having to wipe fresh dots off your walls for re-do's!

I love how the scallops and polka-dots turned out!


So much, in fact, that many months later I decided to add more...

I needed something to draw your eyes up when you walked into the room...

I love polka-dots. She loves polka-dots!

It was a natural choice!

I did these dots using a sponge pouncer (or whatever they are really called) as well, but in a much larger diameter. And the same goes for these...make sure to do a full swirl! That's the secret to achieving a perfect circle!

And that's it!

If I left something out, let me know! I would be happy to answer any questions!

Oh - and if anyone goes for it (a couple of you have already told me you're ready to do it right now), come back and let me know! I would love to see your pictures!

Good luck and happy painting!





P.S. The colors in her room are by Behr.
The pink is called Primrose Bouquet #PPL-43
The green is called Palm Breeze #420E-2

How To: Board and Batten

I have received several questions about how exactly we achieved the Board and Batten look in our kitchen and family room, so I thought I would dedicate a post to it! Consider this a DIY: How To
...well, at least how we would do it!

The first thing I did was research any hard and fast rules about Board and Batten. I wanted to stay true to the look because the whole goal was to bring a sense of architecture to the room that would be mistaken for something that has always been here. I found a few sites that really helped. Here is how Board and Batten would be installed if you were doing an authentic installation. This site was helpful also!

What we wanted was "the look", for less. Meaning all of the bang for not a lot of buck! We wanted to have the vertical strips capped off by a horizontal band at the top and have our existing walls act as the "boards". We also decided to put a "cap" around the family room with a groove running through the top to act as a plate ledge to hold an occasional starfish.

Ok, down to the nitty gritty. This entire project was done using MDF. No reason to break the bank using real wood when it was going to be covered up with three coats of paint anyway! I decided on the height based off of the existing architecture in the rooms. My biggest issue with our family room had always been a long, narrow window that sits up at eye level. I had, sort of, a love/hate relationship with this window! It has a well defined purpose (acting as a frame for Mt. Rainier - stunning!), but it was never easy to incorporate into the room before. It always felt like it was floating. And since the skies are only clear *some* of the time up here in the Pacific Northwest, the window didn't make any sense on days where there wasn't a mountain to frame! I decided the height of the Board and Batten would be 65" which hits right in the middle of the window. This way the window would look supported instead of floating. I am happy to say that it worked!

There were no "rules" followed on this! We adjusted the information that we found online to work for our real life rooms and what was aesthetically pleasing to us. Ok, I should say "to me". My Handyman just wanted to know what cuts to make and where to point the nail gun!

The horizontal strip on top is 3 & 1/2" tall. The vertical strips are 1 & 1/2" wide. The spacing between the strips is 12". We did adjust the spacing when necessary! I wasn't happy with some of the spots where the strips would stand if we followed the 12" spacing rule every time. And I can tell you that if you're not working on a long span of wall, then feel free to adjust! You can't tell where we switched up the spacing at all! But to the eye, it looks a whole lot better than if we had done 12" spacing everywhere! The other thing to consider before you start attaching the strips to the wall is where light switches and outlets fall. It's best to tackle each wall individually and begin where the most issues could possibly arise! To make it easier on ourselves we cut a 12" scrap piece of MDF to use as a spacer. That way we weren't having to measure out 12" each time.

The biggest issue was how we were going to tie this into our existing base boards and window trim. We decided to cut each vertical piece off at an angle at the bottom, and each horizontal piece off at an angle on the sides where it met a window so that the depth of the MDF would not be greater than the depth of the trim molding.

TRUE Board and Batten would have flat panels of wood 12" wide lining the walls and then the strips would serve as seam covers. We were not about to cover all of our walls entirely in wood (goal: inexpensive, remember?) so by putting up only the strips and painting it all out in white we trick your eye into thinking that it really is paneled walls. And I can tell you that until someone gets right up close to it or touches it, they do not realize that in between the strips is normal textured wall!

The whole thing had to be primed and then get painted out with two coats of semi-gloss paint. My husband was nervous about our walls being glossy, but if this was the real thing (all wood!) it would be painted in glossy paint just like the rest of the molding throughout our house. And I think that has a lot to do with people believing that we have actually paneled our walls in wood!

Here you can see where the height of the board and batten meets the long, narrow picture window.

And here you can see the two vertical strips falling evenly under the kitchen window. This was one of the spots where we adjusted some of the spacing. I like the result!

Now that all is said and done and we've been living with it for about a month, I can undoubtedly say that this project was worth it! It did disrupt our home life for a few days (the kitchen and family room were pretty much unaccesable), but the kids actually thought it was fun to eat in the dining room instead of the kitchen for a few days! The most time consuming part was all of the painting that had to be done. We finished the install (including all of the cuts) in about 5 hours. It took 2 full days to do the 3 coats of paint. I wanted each coat to get adequate drying time.

If you have any more questions, I would be happy to answer them!

We have a few friends that have expressed interest in doing Board and Batten on their walls. As well as a nursery for a sweet baby boy that will be arriving in May! I am excited to see how it all turns out! There is no shortage of inspiration out there! Take it and use it to your advantage!

Use #1 for Favorite Old Magazines or Birthday Cards

I hate throwing away eye candy,especially my magazines, where I look through almost daily, for inspiration. I also keep ALL birthday cards. After while it can all pile up, but take heart and make your piles of eye candy and small sentiments into tiny pieces of new found art!

The day I started making the magnets you see here I had been sitting in my studio {back porch} trying to decide what in the world to do with a huge box, of almost 8 pounds of small irregular shaped glass pieces that I found at the local swap shop {local dump} ,LOL! Anyhow, while looking through my magazines I happened to lay the piece of glass down on top of a picture I was looking at, when I realized how much I liked that look.

I soon began gluing all kinds of pictures to the back of the small glass pieces, just by using Mod Podge and a tiny paint brush. But it wasn't until Bri came home and pointed out that they would make good magnets did the ah-ha moment happen {it's not called Lobri Studio for nothin'}!

He also suggested copper tape around the glass so there wouldn't be any boo-boo's and he was right, we can't have anyone getting a nasty cut.

Here's how it's done.......

Items Needed:

You will need a stack of your favorite magazines, that you don't mind cuting up.

Exacto Knife or Sciccors

Mod Podge

Copper Tape

Small Pieces of Glass or Microscope Slides {or any small glass or plastic bauble}

Copper Tape

Magnets from the craft store

Start by finding a favorite photo in a magazine, for the two below I selected Fall themes like carmel apples and jackolanterns {easy to find in the October Issues}. Lay the glass slide on top of the picture to see how it will look before you cut it out.

Second, decide if you would like to add any special words to your picture like here I cut out the word Car'mel from an old dictionary and glued it to the photo, before gluing the glass slide on top. Or you could make a small collage by cutting the whole definition from the dictionary and using it as the background fro you pictures {like the jack-o-lantern}.

Third, go ahead and apply Mod Podge to one side of your slide or glass piece placed the slide or glass piece on top of the photo and cut around the glass with your Exacto knife.

Then I simply squeegeed out the excess glue by gently rubbing the back of the picture against the edge of the table. Wipe it off, let it dry and onto the next step. Oh this is addictive by the way :)

The last thing I did was apply the copper tape around the glass edge and voila, you have an cool looking Artsy Magnet!

Trash into Treasure, I love it!!

Challenge #1 - Making a picture frame out of cardboard and what you have on hand

Trying to decide on an easy tutorial to share wasn't hard, because when I think about making something creative that uses only the supplies you have on hand my thoughts go back to a friend named Martha. When my boys were still in diapers, I lived next door to Martha {she had 5 kids} and was very profficent at using what she had, now she was creative!! When she moved in next door and starting setting up house, naturally she wanted to hang the photos of her children on the wall, but she had no frames~ not a problem for Martha! In fact I watched as she made all her frames out of her cardboard moving boxes. She was quite an inspiration in using what you have. Going with that concept I thought I would share an easy way to make a picture frame {so to speak} using a cardboard box, 3 different colors of scrap fabric, 1 button, scrap piece of decorative paper, 1 ribbon, hot glue and 1 photo.

I've started by cutting off the flap of a milk box we had on hand.
Measure and cut this about 2" larger than your photo. I cut mine here to a 5 x 7.
My photo measure about 2 1/2" x 3 1/2".



Next I grabbed my first piece of scrap fabric {just muslin}, you might want to iron yours first :)
I cut the sides and top tp be about 2 inches wider than the piece of cardboard and left the bottom piece ripped , because I like fringe.
Plug in your hot glue gun.

Yes Spot, I said your hot glue gun!

Now you're going to glue and wrap the sides of the fabric around the cardboard, both sides and the top.

See, like this. Now fold down the top piece and glue that, but don't burn yourself like I just did!!!!

Now flip the fabric covered cardboard over............

And now you need to cut another piece of cardboard at 5 1/2" x 4 1/2".

Cut another piece of scrap fabric to glue to this piece of cardboard, I'm into warm reds lately but use whatever is on hand.

Glue it to your cardboard with the hot glue gun.

And now flip that over and you'll want to hot glue the back of the cardboard {all around the edges and the middle}, because this will fit right on top of your other fabric covered cardboard piece. Whew, how many times can I type the word cardboard without it starting to look like a wierd word??
I was careful to make sure my red covered piece wasn't crooked before attatching the two together.

Now I used a piece of blue tick scrap fabric, that I ripped to glue along the bottom ridge of the frame. It's ok if some of it hangs off the frame.

Now I found another little piece of scrap fabric and cut it into a square, then picked at the sides until it got that fringy look I like. Glue to blue tick fabric.

Now find a button out of your stash, a rather large one is what I chose...you'll see why in a minute. Glue that on.

Now you will need to find a decorative piece of paper, you can use anyhting here, but I like my music sheets the best.

I cut the paper just a bit shorter than my red fabric covered cardboard, just so a little of the red is visible on the sides of the paper. But still wide enough to see behind the photo.
I glued this on.

Now I placed my photo on top, just to see how it all looks, so far so good!
If this is an original photo you are using you might not want to hot glue it on {but I did}. There are tons of other adhesives {scrapbook adhesives} to use.

Now see why you needed a larger button? You'll want to add a snipet of text here. Choose what ever goes with your photo. Just type your word in notepad on your computer, in small text and print. Cut to size and glue it onto your button.

Now flip the whole thing over, measure a piece of ribbon about 7-8 inches long and glue it onto the back.

Now measure another piece of fabric to cover up the back and glue that on.

You're not done until you sign it! Print out a little note to glue to the back........

Voila!! You've just made your first cardboard picture frame, Martha would be proud :)