Fall Pinterest Challenge: Crayon Drip Pumpkin

It’s Pinterest Challenge time again!  Sherry from Young House Love and 3 other lovely bloggers are hosting this season’s challenge.  This time around I decided to keep it in the family and get inspired by one of my cousin Mallory’s DIY projects: a crayon drip pumpkin.

I followed Mal’s directions pretty closely.  The only changes I made were to use hot glue to attach the crayons, and I used just red and orange crayons instead of a variety of autumn colors. 

Here’s what you’ll need to do this project:

A pumpkin (I used a white plastic pumpkin I bought from Target for around $12), crayons, a utility knife, a hot glue gun, a hair dryer, and newspaper to protect your work surface.

Start by breaking your crayons in half and peeling off the paper cover.  I followed Mallory’s tip and used my utility knife to cut a line along the length of the paper which made peeling the cover off much easier.

Then start gluing the crayon halves around the top of the pumpkin.  A little dob of hot glue goes a long way here.

I started with the red crayons and then filled in with the orange ones to make the color coverage somewhat even.  When you’re done gluing on the crayons your pumpkin should look something like this. 

Now it’s on to the last step: melting the crayons.  Fair warning here: this step is time consuming and very messy.  I started out working on the counter top in the kitchen.  After about 15 minutes of working the hair dryer on the crayons my pumpkin looked like this:

The crayon wax tends to splatter as it’s melting no matter what angle you hold the hair dryer at.  Luckily, since it’s crayon, it cleans up really easily, but I’d suggest doing this step in a garage, unfinished basement, or outside. 

I moved my setup to the basement and got back to melting.  I probably spent another 30-45 minutes just holding the dryer over the pumpkin to get all the crayons to melt down.  Like I said, it’s time consuming.  But once I was finished I was pretty happy with the result.

Note how splattered the newspaper and table are.  This is why I moved the project to the basement.  The good thing about this project is once it’s done, it’s done.  You don’t have to wait for the wax to dry or set or anything like that.  So as soon as I was happy with how my pumpkin looked I put it on the front porch to join the rest of my Halloween decorations.

Personalized Wedding Art

This past weekend I spent some quality time in a mini-van with my hubby and my in-laws during a road trip to Wyoming.  One of my husband’s cousins got married there on Saturday and the whole family was in attendance.  The wedding was quite memorable.  Let’s just say that to describe the wedding as “rustic” would be an understatement.

The bride and groom didn’t want to set up a wedding registry so most people just gave them cash.  I wanted to do something a little more personal than that so I created a special piece of art for them.  And by art, I mean a piece I made by copying and pasting pictures on the computer.


I love how it turned out and it was pretty simple to create.  I used Picasa to make it, which is free to download and works wonderfully for editing pictures.  I started with this plain white image that I downloaded from Centsational Girl.  Then I downloaded each of the letters for the newlyweds’ last name.  I chose letters from this awesome Flickr collection that has hundreds of choices for each letter (they’re free to download as long as you don’t use them for commercial use).

The next step was to arrange the letters.  Near the top of the screen under “Create” select “Picture Collage.”  Choose the folder to which you saved your letter files.  Select all of the letters and add them to the collage.  Under settings choose “Picture Pile” which will lay out the letters like a pile of scattered pictures.  Then rearrange the pictures to spell out the last name.  You’ll probably have to play around with the sizing of each picture for a while so that they all fit well into one line.   Once you’re happy with the arrangement of your letters click “Create Collage.”  This will save the picture and take you back to the main screen where you can now edit this image.

I changed my image to black and white, but this step is up to you.  You could certainly leave it as it, change it to black and white or sepia. or use another fun effect.  The last step is to add the text.  I love Picasa’s text tool, it’s very easy to use.  Once you’re happy with how the text looks you are done!

I printed mine at home on photo paper but you could also print it as a photo at any retail location with photo services, like Walgreens or Target.  I framed it in a cute wooden picture frame from Pier 1.  I really love how it looks!

Now Sarah and Joe have a personalized piece of art for their home, which happens to have the most incredible views of Devil’s Tower.



Pretty gorgeous isn’t it?!

*Linking up at Serenity Now*

Halloween Sale at Pier 1

Pier 1 just marked down all of their Halloween merchandise to 50% off!  They have tons of cute stuff so if you haven’t decorated yet, or if you just want to add to your décor, check them out.  The only thing I had bought for Halloween so far was a white plastic pumpkin from Target so I took advantage of the sale.  I bought these to go outside:

Pre-lit Halloween black cat, $19.48

Jack-o’-Paper Lanterns set, $6.38

And these to wear when the little trick-or-treaters stop by:

Cat ears headband, $3.38

Purple Witches Boots earring, $2.98

For those prices how could I pass them up?!

I’m in!

It took a while and I kind of lost hope about it happening, but Apartment Therapy finally posted my entry in their Room for Color contest!  I would be oh so grateful if you all would vote for my entry here.  Wish me luck!

New chairs

I’ve been waiting a long time to reveal my new chairs.  I bought these two vintage chairs from a little antique store in my hometown about a year and a half ago.  The problem was that I had no way to get them back to Kansas City.  They didn’t fit in my parents’ car either so they couldn’t bring them when they visited.  When they came here last month though I finally convinced them to drive the Jeep which has a lot more room.  Now I finally have my pretty chairs!

They’re currently living in the formal dining room, which right now is serving as a mostly empty pass through room between the living room and the kitchen/eating area. 

To fill up the room a little bit more I also added a small shelf to use as a bookshelf and as a small bar.  I put a tray I already owned on the top shelf and filled it with a few pretty glasses, some of my prettier and more interesting bottles of liquor, and a couple souvenir shot glasses from Paris and Rome.  The middle rack has some books and the bottom rack holds my home magazines. 

And here’s how everything looks together. 

What do you think of my colorful vintage chairs? 

My Room for Color

I just finished submitting my entry for Apartment Therapy’s “Room for Color” contest.  Hopefully they’ll select my entry and post it on AT in the next couple days, but in the event that they don’t, here are some pictures of my beautiful blue living room.  And if I do get selected, well then you are just getting an early preview!

Sunday Sales

Hello everyone!  It’s been a busy week for me but things are slowly getting back to normal around here.  I hope all of you are enjoying your weekend. 

I just wanted to let you all know about some great sales going on right now.  First up: my favorite store, Target.  They have some good deals on furniture, including accent chairs.  I rounded up six of my favorites (including the chair in my living room and bedroom) that range in price from $119.99 to $169.99

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

Target also marked down most of their home décor items by Threshold that I featured here.  I picked up this tray and this little vase with flowers last night (they haven’t marked down the prices online yet but in stores they’re 30% off).

The last sale I want to share with you is at Home Decorators.  Through tomorrow (10/15) all home décor and lighting is 20% off.  Here are some of the items that I love.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

Happy shopping!  I’ll be back with a fun post tomorrow!

It’s All About Balance

Every room needs to be balanced.  It creates a visually pleasing space and it makes us feel at ease and comfortable.  Rooms that feel “off” often lack this key principal of design. 

There are three different types of balance: symmetrical, asymmetrical, and radial.

Symmetrical balance is easy to spot.  You can draw a line down the middle of the room and each half will be the same.  Symmetrical balance is also called formal balance and it can make a room feel more formal. 

photo via House Beautiful

photo via Kelly Wearstler Interiors

Asymmetrical balance creates a feeling of equilibrium without being exactly the same.  This is done by using pieces of similar size and/or visual weight to balance each other within a room.  Asymmetrical balance is also referred to as informal balance.

Emily Henderson does asymmetry very well.  See how the TV stand balances out the sofa and the two chairs balance out the sliding glass doors across the room.

This room, also by Emily Henderson, features a great asymmetrical art wall.

The last type of balance is radial balance.  This is balance based on a circle.  Think of the spokes on a wagon wheel.  Radial balance is often seen as dining chairs and place settings around a round table in a dining room.

photo via Emily Henderson

photo via Kelly Wearstler Interiors

And that kids is your interior design lesson for the day. 

It will probably be your only lesson of the week as I will be busy studying for tests in both my interior design classes on Thursday.  I’ll try to be back on Friday with something fun! 

DIY State Love Art

I love personalized art in a home.  Something with meaning for you always looks better than generic art from a big-box store. 

One idea for personalized art is state art.  There are a lot of great prints you can buy from Etsy artists like AsYouWishPrinting and Southern Slang

AsYouWishPrinting

Southern Slang

Both of these prints are lovely, but if you’re like me and don’t feel like spending money you can make your own state love art for free! 

I made these prints last year so I don’t have step-by-step photos but the instructions are pretty easy.  First, find a printable of the state or states you want to feature.  I like these worksheets from About.com

Print off your map.  If the state isn’t the size you want for your print you can resize it on a copier.  Then pick out a cute piece of scrapbook paper and tape it to the back of your map print-off.  Now start cutting!  Obviously some states have simpler shapes then others, so if you don’t live in Kansas or Utah this might take a little bit of time. 

The next step is to mount the scrapbook paper state onto a solid piece of cardstock in a complementary color.  Finally it’s time to add a heart.  I just drew hearts until I had a size and shape I was happy with and then I traced that onto a different color of scrapbook paper and cut it out.  For my project I did Illinois, where I’m from, and Missouri, where my hubby is from and also where we live, so I put the hearts over our hometowns. 

And that’s it!  I put them into some simple white frames I picked up from Target that were on clearance for about $4.  I absolutely love how they turned out!

And here’s how they look hung up in my bathroom

I hope you all have a lovely weekend, and if you’re here in the Midwest, stay warm!

*Linking up at Serenity Now*

Wuv, Twue wuv

Today’s post is not at all related to design, but it is related to something I wuv very much: The Princess Bride.  The Princess Bride is my favorite movie of all time.  I was about five years old when I saw it for the first time and I’ve seen it approximately 347 times since then.  Just kidding, that’s obviously an over-exaggeration; the real number is probably 250.  I even made Ben go see it with me on the big screen for Valentine’s Day this year (best v-day ever!). 

The Princess Bride also happens to be celebrating its 25th anniversary this year and there have been a lot of events and press to celebrate it.  Like this incredibly amazing reunion photo from Entertainment Weekly:

And this fun article about fun facts learned at last night’s 25th anniversary screening of the film.

EW has another longer article about the stories behind the movie here.

I would have loved to be at the live reading of The Princess Bride that took place last December in LA.  Paul Rudd read the part of Westley, Mindy Kaling read the part of Buttercup, and Cary Elwes (the original Westley) read the part of Prince Humperdink.

For those of you would love to take a piece of The Princess Bride home (other than buying the newly released Blue-Ray version), Etsy has some great items, like this sweet and simple print from AsYouWishPrinting

This cross stich kit from DisorderlyStiches cracks me up

 

And this Iocane Powder print is kind of awesome tooSo, my lovely readers, what do you love most about The Princess Bride?