DIY Wall art

I was scouting the internet for some inspiration to paint a canvas that had been lying around the apartment for a while. All I knew was that it was supposed to be black & white & abstract. That’s quite a wide specification, I know. Lucky for me, I stumbled upon Ayisha’s post about her DIY wall art. Thank you, Ayisha, for the inspiration 🙂 Just some swirls of black paint, and ta-da! we have something new to put up on the walls. I might use this as a prototype to make a bigger one next time. Or I’ll just go scouting again, the internet is a superb place for inspiration, isn’t it?!
 You might like to read about my other DIY stories  🙂

The coffee table story

When we moved into our first home two years ago, Mr.A. and I got some basic IKEA furniture to get things going. Dressing up our home has been such a fulfilling journey together. We still own most of those pieces, but some of them have gone through a transformation of sorts. Our coffee table, for instance, was the most basic design possible from IKEA’s ‘Lack’ series.

I came across hundreds of blogs featuring DIY projects on pieces from that series in particular. I reckon they come so cheap, there is no risk of feeling a loss, even if your project were to go totally kaput. We gave ours a face-lift by adding a dark wood top. Buying palettes from the local hardware store and coating them with varnish, we then screwed three of them parallel to each other to get a renewed table top. One can see the grain of the wood through the varnish, and I love the rustic, earthy look. We also removed the lower shelf to give it a lighter, more airy feel. We were super pleased how it turned out. As we kept searching for a new one to replace it, one that we both love and agree upon, in the meantime we enjoyed our little project very well!

Last weekend we finally found a new coffee table, also from IKEA. Actually it’s a set of two tables. Best part about it? Mr.A and I both love it 😀

Aim for my heart

I quite enjoy refreshing the wall art hanging about our living room. What’s easier than making some yourself, right? Remember this one that I made for my bathroom a couple of years ago? This new one says ‘Aim for my heart’ and has some cute arrows in gold, silver and black.

Birthday coupons for Mr.A

It’s birthday season again! Mr.A turned a year older & wiser on 9th Nov. and as usual I got kinda crazy with ideas about how to make it special this time around 😀 I usually knock myself out making him fun & absolutely useless things for his birthday, and am thrilled how he loves them, too. Heehee, it’s the silly things that tell you how perfect your are for each other!

I have been wanting to make him some personalized coupons for a while now. I thought about it last Valentine’s day but a birthday is as good an occasion as any.

I used the pixlr express app that I have downloaded on my  Chrome browser. It’s a great app for quick picture editing and I use it quite often on my blog. I took a blank .jpg file as the base. I wanted to apply a similar look for all my coupons but with different colors. I also wanted to keep it simple & sober. Browsing though the various looks I arrived at background -> ink -> blackfive. Adding some text, I came to this template that I used for all the coupons, applying different filters to change the background color. Next I added some fun freebies for Mr.A to redeem at will.

I added a bolder border before printing them out, then cut them out, punched a hole in the top-left corner of each & stringed them through a piece of ribbon. Done! Try this fun idea for a dear one, you could allow your imagination to choose any kind of treat. Btw, Mr.A loved this gift – success, yeahh!

Freebies from here & there

One can discover just about anything & everything over the internet. I saw a clip from a Bollywood movie trailer (move forward to 2:00min) that describes my feelings perfectly.

Dad asks daughter, ‘where the hell did you learn all this?’ She simply shrugs and states the evident, ‘from the internet…you can find every recipe out there, from making babies to making bombs!’

Anyway, that brings me to some random, fun & free things I stumbled upon while surfing.

• So everyone’s going crazy about the iPhone6, I know, I know, I am not starting on that, but how about some amazing wallpapers to distract you? Check out Poolga‘s fantastic collection of artwork by a group of extremely creative artists. Poolga’s Facebook page has nearly 7000 likes and counting. You can select and download wallpapers for free for the existing iPhones, iPads & iPod Touch. Of course, you can find some gorgeous ones for the new iPhone6 & 6+ as well.

 

• At recitethis.com you can ‘turn a quote into a masterpiece’. That’s what the website says and I quite agree. You can choose from several interesting poster styles to pick one that suits your purpose, preview it, and download it or share it online or email it to a friend. For free. If you are feeling unimaginative, the website even suggests quotes you might like. What could be easier than that! I have occasionally used this for my blog now, then and again. You might have to move your words around a bit, depending on the selected design, but most of it is no rocket science.

 

• Head over to Caravan Shoppe to find adorable & artistic digital downloads. You can buy most of the designs but they also have a freebies section where they set aside some of their work for free downloads. Take a moment to read about their designers or find out the latest on their blog. From party invitations & posters to calendars & cards, you will definitely find something that catches your eye.

 Hope you like my finds and use them for fun! Have a great weekend!!