Category: Handmade Art with Heart

Home made art.

Thankful for…

Published on by Our Humble Abode1 Comment

You, dear readers and our sponsors, IHeart Organizing and S and S Babee.

To show our appreciation for all of you, we’ve designed a new, completely custom cut out, similar to our Family Tree Cut Out.  For a more personalized art piece, we’ve added this cut out, The Whole Family Tree, complete with each family member’s name.  Jen, this one is for you:

We’ll have to discuss cut out and card stock colors, but the basics are there.  Jenna at S and S Babee, you’ve got one coming your way, too.

Friends, we didn’t forget about you.  Which is why we’re offering you a 30% discount on all orders placed now through Tuesday, November 29th.  Enter the code THANKS30 at checkout to receive the discount.

Thank you all for your never-ending support and encouragement.  We’re thankful for each and every one of you.   Happy Thanksgiving!

New York

Published on by Our Humble Abode13 Comments

Today, I thought I’d share an art piece I made for Patricia from PVE Design.  If you recall, she painted a beautiful picture of our home and was kind enough to trade art with me.

Patricia loves New York City, particularly Central Park, so I suggested a cut out map piece similar to the one I made of Savannah, Georgia.

With her approval, I started cutting, and cutting, and cutting.  It took a while, but it was well worth the effort.

It’s a large one, too measuring about 18 inches by 24 inches.

Patricia recently wrote a rave review on her blog and I couldn’t be any happier with her reaction.  Thank you so much Patricia for your beautiful art.  We hope you enjoy yours as much as we enjoy ours!

Gallery Wall Details

Published on by Our Humble Abode15 Comments

Wanna know where we got everything for our most recent gallery wall?   Good, because we’re ready to spill the beans.  Let’s start from the top and work our way over.

I made the Love print inspired by a tattoo I saw on Pinterest.  Below that is a super special original watercolor painting of our house by Patricia of PVE Design.  She was gracious enough to trade artwork with me.  I’ll share what I made for her soon, too.  Then, we have the plaster feet in shadow boxes.  The little heart on the left is actually Ben and my fingerprints, again inspired by Pinterest.

See that house?  That is what our humble rancher looked like just after being built.  We’re the second people to own this house.   The original owners left some old pictures for us.  Below that is a picture of Ben and his dad on our wedding day.  The pointing finger came from Hobby Lobby; originally 10 bucks, but 50% off.

The large picture in the middle is a print of a  painting of my home town.  Ben’s grandma gave it to us.  Ben and all of his brothers are in the black and white photo.  The bird is a painting I made.  You can buy a print in our Etsy shop.  A B monogram which also came from Hobby Lobby.  Under the monogram, the paintings the boys made Ben for Father’s day.

But what’s that by the pointing finger?  Penny art.  I saw a penny key chain on Pinterest and decided to adapt it to make framed art.  I simply found pennies for the years Ben, myself, Vincent and Everett were born and when we met and got married.  Using Photoshop, I typed each event and the date.  For example: Ben, October 24.  Yep, happy 29th birthday to my handsome and handy hubby.  Several layers of double-sided tape hold everything in place.  The tree print is actually a card that came with this print from Eloise Renouf.  I still have to find the right frame for the Passing Showers print.

I added the I Carry Your Heart cut out to the group.  Above that is a painting I made based on a Home Goods painting I saw on my last trip.  My sister painted the rainbow piece.  To the right is a print from Love Life.  I made the fingerprint art inspired by Lori Danielle’s beautiful work.

And rounding out the bottom is a painting I made based on Jen’s streak paintings.  I saw the Successful Marriage quote and thought it would be a perfect reminder to love the one you’re with.  The floral card was part of our guest book at our wedding.

We still have more art to add, but we’re really happy with it so far.

Now we’re off to celebrate Ben’s birthday.  What are you up to this Monday?

Sentimental Gallery Wall

Published on by Our Humble Abode14 Comments

We’ve got another gallery wall in our house, for a total of three.  Our hall gallery is filled with family photos and another is bird themed.

The most recent gallery doesn’t have a theme.  Rather, it’s filled with pretty pictures and sentimental art.  For months, we had paper templates hanging up.  Everyone asked, “What’s up with your art?”  I finally got sick of answering, and I had collected enough art to start hanging, so I did.  First, I had to decide the layout I wanted.  You see, the paper templates were completely generic papers to see if we would even like a gallery wall.

I gathered all the art in the large basement bedroom and shifted things around on the floor.  I liked the general layout, so I started transferring the pattern to the wall.

Uh, oh.  I grossly underestimated how large the wall was.

So, I rearranged my labeled templates on the wall.

The new layout filled out the wall nicely, with a few gaps to expand.  I also left room at the top to add more frames once we move the flush mount light for a pendant.

Hanging was easy because I had already marked the nail holes and labeled each template, so I knew exactly which frame went where.

And here it is now.  You can see the cast feet made it to the wall.

As I said before, I still have a few gaps to fill, like this to the right of the arrangement.

Overall, I really love the look.  Ben kinda thinks it feels cluttered.  I understand that, but I like the collected look more than one huge framed something.

What do you think?  Do you prefer one large frame or a gallery wall?  How many gallery walls do you have?  What are your favorite pendant fixtures?  How have you decorated your stair well?  It’s a tricky little area.

P.S.  We’ll be back again to share what everything is and where we got it from.

Box Step

Published on by Our Humble Abode7 Comments

Wanna see what we did with the plaster feet we made?  If you answered yes, keep reading.  If your answer was no, stop by tomorrow.  I decided these feet would look adorable framed in shadow boxes.  I had two sitting in my office, so I gathered other supplies.  Two pieces of foam core, cut to the size of the glass, a piece of canvas (left over from the drop cloth curtain in the laundry room.  I also used a few scraps to cover a lampshade), scissors, Mod Podge, masking tape, labels, Elmer’s glue, and epoxy.

I started by cutting my canvas to size, laying the glass down as a guide, keeping two inches of extra material on all sides.

Then, I Mod Podged one side of the foam core and placed the foam on the center of the fabric, pressing firmly for nice adhesion.

To eliminate excess fabric, I cut the corners of the fabric.  I added more Mod Podge to the back and pressed the fabric down.

With each side folded down, I added a strip of masking tape, just to prevent any shifting.  You could skip Mod Podge on the back and just stick masking tape.

A quick search through my scrap booking supplies left me with two label holders, with brad holders.  I cut two small pieces of cardstock to label each foot.

With my fabric in place, I found the center and marked the holes of the label holder.

Because the foam is 1/4 inch thick, I used a screw to make holes for my brads.

The only problem?  The brads are only 1/4 inch long.  Not long enough to go through the foam.  Rather than a wild goose brad chase, I opted for the easy way out, Elmer’s glue.  A little glue on the brad and another dab in the hole and everything worked out.

Now, it was time to glue the foot molds in place.  Elmer’s just wasn’t going to work, so I used an epoxy.

I didn’t want to clean epoxy off anything, so I scoured the kitchen for a plastic lid and fork to mix on and with.

With the epoxy mixed, I generously covered the highest areas of the back of each foot.

Some areas don’t touch the backing, but that’s just fine.

Other areas touch nicely, but a little of the epoxy oozed out.  Again, not a big deal.

Epoxy takes about 12 hours to set up, so I left the pieces out overnight, but I snapped a few pictures while they dried.

I like the look of the canvas backing, the grains of sand, and the official looking label holders.  Next step, framing and hanging.

So, how much did this little craft project cost?  The plaster cost $7.99 and I had the rest of the supplies.  And, I still have plaster left over for future projects.

What do you have in shadow boxes?  Have a favorite home-made art piece you made?