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Ava's Crafty Corner - Duplicating a pattern April 13, 2009 |

In a continuation of my dress a wall series I present to you how to match copy something for matching artwork.

Step one: As always pick something simple. Take the cellophane wrapping off of the canvas and unfold it onto the pattern you wish to copy. Trace the patter with a PAINT PEN. No Not a marker or a sharpie...a paint pen and a paint pen only. If you don't own one. Buy one.



Step Two: Place the paint marked cellophane face down...so the paint is touching the canvas. If using multiple canvases make sure they are tightly and evenly spaced. When you have the picture centered use a pencil to trace over the painted lines. The pressure will cause the paint to transfer from the cellophane onto the canvas. The lines will be light and a bit sketchy so be sure to fill in the gaps with your trusty pencil. Here is a picture before filling in with pencil.

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Step Three: Paint, paint, paint and paint some more. Tada! One thing I learned dark purple wall paint requires about 6 coats....and will never be used for this use again.


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Before & After April 12, 2009 |

Here are some quickie pictures on my bedroom. Notice the icky country blue walls and (allthough it is hard to tell miss-matched knobs on the closet doors. Oh not to mention all the crap in the closet itself.


The after picture is a wee bit missleading. Since there is a giant laundry pile in downstairs, but the point is I got rid of 5 garbage bags full of clothes. Now there is just the process of actually getting them to Goodwill...


The new bedspread has arrived so of course I had to try it out right away. You cant see the new wall color very well, but its on the walls. I decided the flowering on the pillows was a bit too much so I flipped them over to the plain brown which I much prefer. It's a wee wrinkled but that will fix itself in time. I think it will look very nice whenever my new bed frame comes in :)

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Ava's Crafty Corner April 09, 2009 |

I do not think I will surprise anyone when I say I am too poor to buy artwork. I am not an artsy person and the thought of spending hundreds or even worse thousands on some mediocre art which doesn't match my house is well annoying. After millions of hours logged watching TLC's trading spaces I was convinced that even I Ava-Right-Brain-Mazur can adorn her walls for next to nothing.

Now like a master it is time for me to pass the torch.

Supplies

  • Left over paint that matches the rooms in your house
  • Pencil
  • Paint brushes
  • Canvases (Walmart is cheapest but hobby lobby is better for non-rectange canvases or large sizes). Personally I like the thicker kind that have staples around the edge....I just kinda like how it looks.

Step 1: Find your inspiration. For my bedroom I wanted to match with the bedspread I bought...despite Rory's objections. I thought it would be nice to make a couple flower paintings for the big empty wall and then some leaves for a set above the bed. Once I have an idea I like to go to istockphoto.com to find a design to rip off. My inspiration for these paintings can be found here.

Using my rip-off design with a pencil attempt to kinda match what you are looking at on the screen. Its important to pick a design that is as simple as possible. Avoid circles they are hard to get even...do not attempt anything that is actually supposed to look like something. Abstract is best. If you need more than 2 colors its too complicated. Pick something else.


Step 2: Choose your background paint and paint :P I suggest craft sponge brushes and regular brushes for the detail. Try to avoid your penciled in areas...this way you wont fuck it up later. Since you are using wall paint I highly suggest you do one coat let it sit for about another hour and then do a second coat to ensure full coverage.


Step 3: Fill in your pencil marks with the accent color. Make sure to go over just the edges of your background color so you get smooth lines. For a fun illusion I suggest using the wall color as the accent color this way it almost looks like your have cut-outs in your canvases where the wall is showing through. Go back and touch up lines with background color if needed. Small glad ware is very handy for keeping little parcels of paint throughout your project and for extra protection against dry out use Alice's tip and keep them in fridge.

TaDa! For the price of 9 dollars a wall is dressed. Just wait until you guys get to see them above my new bed dressed with my new comforter...I'm such a hipster.

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Paint & Nicotine April 08, 2009 |

I'm really starting to hate the smell of paint. Alice and Rory + 1 came over to help me out with the painting buiness. We were very productive finishing both the upstairs bedrooms, the family room and downstairs hallway. It took longer than I expected but I am very happy with how it turned out. I have a few spots to touch up in the spare bedroom but other than that it looks pretty good.

And I now have a put it back together goal of 1 month. I will get pictures up at some point. Right now I'm working on painting some pictures for above my bed. I'm going to have to let the base coat dry overnight.

I'm not very happy that vacation is over, it went by way to quickly. Sometimes work feels like this never ending cycle and I just get kinda bored with the concept that I will have to do it for another 42 or so years before I can retire.

At least I have something to look forward to this weekend. Alice and I are taking a bus to miller park to see the cubs game (or as Alice would say the Brewers game). I do belive I will limit myself to one drink at the stadium as I have hard core quit smoking.

I've been meaning to swear off it completely again...and the stress of school kinda put me into a fairly bad habit. To increase our chances Alice and I are quitting together. We both had our last cigarretts on sunday night (Technically Monday morning). I'm fine when I'm at work but this sitting at home on the computer thing and in the car is proving to be more difficult. All and all I think I'm doing pretty good.

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Biography

"Ava Mazur (alias) was born July 20th, 1981. She is the only child to two very normal middle class parents who were so wonderful she can’t even blame them for all of her problems. While her parents both worked Ava was lovely attended to by her overprotective, well intended however extremely paranoid paternal grandmother. She attended St.Peter’s Lutheran school in Schaumburg, IL from kindergarten until 8th grade where she achieved mediocre grades and participated in: girlscouts, basketball, cheerleading, equestrian and band. After graduating from St.Peter’s she attended James B. Conant Highschool in Hoffman Estates, IL. Where she got her first boyfriend, first job (a bather brusher & fill-in obedience instructor) at PetsMart. She also met her fabulous bff Cobie. She was published in the schools literary magazine in 1999 effectively beginning and ending her writing career. She continued her participation in equestrian and band. She later joined the Schaumburg Youth Orchestra and participated in several state solo competitions while player her flute. Due to High School bureaucrats she was forced to participate in marching band. But thankfully as a result of a snoozing belayer while rock climbing Ava was able to milk a sprained ankle for a year to get out of the senior year season. Furthermore she made a half assed attempt at joining drama (which she hated). High school taught Ava many valuable lessons such as: buying clothes is fun, if you bat your eyelashes you can talk a cop out of giving you a ticket, mothers love buying dresses for special events, driving is awesome even if you have to walk 5 times as far from your parking spot than if you would have taken the bus and sex is fun. Ava’s slightly above mediocre grades were enough to earn a scholarship to Winona State University in Winona, MN. She graduated with a 2.99 (how much does that suck) and a B.S. in Allied Health. In college Ava enjoyed no organized actives, drank with her friends Alice and Rory, slept in, watched mtv, swore off meat, exercised and enjoyed enough camel lights to take years off her life. After Graduation she got a job at Mayo Clinic and bought a beautiful deep purple velvet couch, a car with heated seats and heads-up display as well as a house. She spent tons of her parents money on a wedding that never happened. And applied the remainder of her wedding fund (a gift from her parents) to install Brazilian tiger wood floors in the upstairs of her home. Today Ava is a (distance) student at North Dakota Stat University for a B.S. in Laboratory Science. She lives in Rochester, MN with her beloved bulldogs Belmont and Rosa. She enjoys bad reality TV, finding new music on Pandora, riding her bike and writing amusing stories on her blog. "