A Collage from Leftover Scraps

So not to make a really left-field reference to something that happened months ago, but.... anyone remember that "just because" collage I made back in January? No? That's ok, I won't hold a grudge. It's right here, if you'd like a quick refresher. G'wan then. Take a look - it's relevant to this blog post.

K, now that you've definitely gone and looked, here's why it's relevant:  Using the scraps of magazine cutouts that were leftover from that collage, I made another collage altogether. Heyooo! #Recycle.

Here's a casual step-by-step via photos:

And the mandatory close-ups of the details:

Here are the two pieces together:

The cool thing about recycling scraps from one collage to make a new one is that you can create multiple pieces of art that have a similar feel, but each with its own unique look. It kind of reminds me of a fashion show - where everything that comes down the runway looks like it belongs together, even though each piece is different. Here's another example of a similar kind of project I made for my grandmother several years ago:

I hope to do more crafty things soon - whether it be painting or making more collages or drawing. I feel happy and purposeful when creating things, so it makes sense to make an effort to do it more often.

On that note, I'll have a recap soon of Craft Club #5, I promise!

So what artistic projects are YOU working on?
Do you have a favorite Pin board for color palettes? They make for great collage inspiration!

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Craft Club #4: Creating Collages

I've attempted to write this blog at least five times, but it just keeps getting knocked off the table, so to speak. How's about we do this thing now, hmm? LEGGO!

On the last Sunday in January, it was my turn to host Craft Club! For our fourth meeting of the crafty minds, we spent a few hours making collages and nibbling on apps and pizza.

Before Stephanie, Kate, Kim, Lauren and Abby arrived, I set up a table in my living room and covered it with the craft supplies for the day's collaging:

• magazines
• rulers
• cutting boards
• x-acto knives
• scissors
• glue sticks
• rubber cement

Around the perimeter of the living room, I also set out several framed collages that I've made over the years. These were for both inspiration and decoration, since my place was pretty bare at the time.

Once everyone arrived, I gave the girls a rundown on the techniques that I typically use when making my own collages. Then we all just dug in and began poking through all of our magazines, pulling out pages and figuring out what kind of collage each of us wanted to make.

As usual, it was awesome to see how differently everyone's projects turned out.

Here's Kim's - her collage has some ornate gilded age details to it:

.  kim's  .

I loved Lauren's woodsy, animal- and nature-inspired collage:

.  lauren's  .

Steph's was filled with just the right amount of crafty angst:

.  steph's  .

Abby's was pretty and peaceful and seemed to fit her personality perfectly:

.  abigail's  .

Mine was just nowhere near finished by the time my guests left, because I apparently take days longer to make collages than anyone else does! Here's what I was playing around with on my canvas... and hopefully it will be completed someday.

And apparently I didn't get a picture of Kate's because it's nowhere to be found. OOPS! Sorry Kate, I'm sure yours was beautiful.

Of course, Craft Club would be a sad affair if there was no food involved, so for munchies we had:

• vanilla frosted mini-cupcakes
• carrots/cherry tomatoes/hummus
• crackers
• pizza
• soda

Kim has offered to host our next one, when she's going to show us some of her favorite tips for putting together floral arrangements. That's going to be a fantastically useful craft to learn, for sure. Can't wait to share that with you!

What sorts of crafty projects have you been getting into lately?

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Homemade Art: A Collage Just Because

So here's something I haven't mentioned yet on my blog because the situation has been just too insane for me to bring up "in public":  My roommate moved out at the end of December while I was in Washington, DC. I still don't intend to go into the details of the entire situation (sawry), but suffice to say that I came home from my trip to an empty apartment, and my immediate reaction was, "Whoa..." followed almost instantly by "HELL. YES."

The lease is still partially in her name until the end of January, so I now have until February to find a new roomie. In the meantime, however, I am absolutely DRINKING IN the fact that this entire enormous apartment is all mine right now. With all of this newfound space to spread out, I've been cleaning, singing (so much singing), making hot chocolates, and doing art projects to my heart's delight.

I began this collage just before leaving for DC, and finished it shortly after coming home (riding the high of my apartment freedom). The model featured in this collage was pretty much the inspiration for the entire thing - I love the soft, natural jade greens of the field grass she's surrounded by, so I started with that and added tiffany blue, teal, orchid, natural wood and crisp whites to the palette.

.  click for larger view  .

Here's how it was all laid out before everything was glued down...

After arranging the pieces the way I like them, I then take close-up pictures of each part of the collage. Then I remove all of the pieces and glue them back down in the correct order:

 The finished product:

I love the color scheme and the way that parts of the collage extend past the ends of the canvas. That does mean that it can't fit into a frame, but I think it's a small price to pay for the unique detail!

When I finish a collage, I'm often left with lots of scraps of magazine clippings from the project. In this case, there are enough scraps that I'm actually making another collage from them. That means the next collage will be in a similar color scheme, but will have its own feel. I can't wait to finish that one and show you!

It feels good to be making some little crafty projects like this - and I'm reminded that it's not that hard to find the time to be creative here and there.  It's particularly enjoyable if you happen to have an entire apartment to yourself to turn into your own personal crafting station.

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DIY Artwork: House-Warming/Birthday Collage

When my good friend Kara moved in with her boyfriend over the summer, I knew I wanted to do something in the form of a "house-warming" gift for her. The fact that her birthday coincided relatively with her move was just a doubly good reason to make something special for her new space. So I discreetly tricked her into describing for me the color scheme of her new living room (it's way over in Massachusetts, so it's not like I could pop in for a casual investigative visit), and got started picking out some pieces that I could use to construct a collage for her.

To create a collage, I first figure out my color scheme. Kara told me that her new living room was filled with beiges, browns, blues and aquas - which sounded fab to me. I love a good aqua/beige scheme myself. In addition to those hues, throwing in a pop or two of a bright natural green seemed like a good idea. And so I began flipping through my stash of magazines and pulling out pages that had colors/textures that tickled my fancy.

.  the colors duke! the colorssss!  .
.  (triple bonus points if you get the reference)  .

Once I'd collected a stack of potential pieces, I got to work tearing and cutting them and then arranging them onto an 11x14 piece of poster board. I neglected to take enough pictures during this step... oops. #BadBlogger.

Here, I've finally finished arranging the pieces - but now comes the task of glueing them all down:

 

.  top half  .

.  bottom half  .

Here is the piece finished - glued, trimmed and framed:

And Kara even sent me a picture of how it looks in her new apartment:

.  WHAT A SPECTACULAR VASE  .
.  ("vase" pronounced very dramatically like "vaahhhhhhhze")  .

What sorts of arts 'n crafts projects have you been getting into? Do you like to make presents for your friends and family too?

Check out more collages to get your creative juices flowing ~> here!

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Homemade Art: Collage for the Bedroom

Remember that cluster of "frames and things" I hung up in my bedroom a few months ago? Some of the frames remained empty until now because I was being a super slacker about filling them with some artwork. Last weekend I decided it was a great time to make a collage for one of the empty frames.

Here's what I came up with:

Here's where it needed to go:

I spent probably about four or five distracted, multi-tasking hours making this collage and decided to take some progress pictures while it was coming together, from gathering the collage pieces to getting them glued down. Here's how it all went down:

.  just getting started  .

.  getting some of the pieces laid down  .

.  a little further along  .

.  pretty much all laid out where i want it  .
.  time to glue down!  .

Once all of the pieces are laid out in an arrangement that I like, I take several close-up pictures of the layout so that I'll be able recreate it as closely as possible:

Then I have to take all of the pieces off, wipe my paper canvas completely clean, and begin the slow process of glueing each piece down, one-by-one, in the correct order. This is harder than it sounds, since all of the pieces are overlapping each other in some way. They need to be put back in exactly the right order to maintain all the desired overlapping, with the correct layers on top. I always take a moment at the very beginning of the glueing phase to identify the very first pieces that need to be glued - the bottom-most pieces.

Here, I've got all of the pieces glued down, but haven't trimmed the edges yet:

Looking at it, I felt like it could use a little more depth, so a few more pieces were added... Can you spot the differences? ;)  Here is the finished and trimmed version:

Finally, the collage just needed to be put into its new frame home:

If you're curious, whenever I make a collage these are my go-to tools:

• tons of magazine scraps in different colors and textures and designs
• an X-acto knife
• a rubber craft cutting board
• a ruler
• rubber cement

I used to churn these kinds of collages out like crazy - giving them to all my friends for their birthdays and spending hours going through magazines, looking for pictures with interesting colors and textures. My collage production has definitely slowed in the last couple of years but it's something I still really enjoy doing when I have the time or the free workspace to spread out on. It would be amazing to someday live in a home with a spare room that could be used as a craft room! #CraftDreams.

Check out a couple other collages here:

• DIY: Hanging A Group of Frames (two small collages in this post)
• Step-by-Step Collage
• One Picture Inspiring All Sorts of Creative Projects

DIY: Hanging A Group of Frames

I've mentioned before that the walls of our apartment are a bit on the bare side and that I've been taking some steps lately to try to remedy that.

In early February, I came upon a great blog post on Young House Love that outlined a fool-proof way to hang up a cluster of frames and whatnots on a wall together. If there was one wall-related task I was certainly bad at, prior to this, it was hanging up multiple items together in straight lines. I'd try my damnedest to align things properly and everything would still end up askew when it went up on the wall.

But this time, armed with the knowledge I'd acquired from YHL, I was about to go H.A.M. on a whole wall's worth of shit. And this time I was, like.... pretty sure it was going to end well for me.

Here's how I not only did it - but actually did it WELL! As mentioned, this was based on instructions that I found at YHL, which in turn were found somewhere else. #CircleOfLife

Step 1: Get some shit to hang up!

.  uh huh, this my shit  .

I acquired some of my frames from The Kitchen Corner on 4th Ave in Vancouver, because they have a great selection of very reasonably priced frames. I got the other frames from the Salvation Army on 4th Ave which, if you follow my blog with any regularity, you know that I'm obsessed with.

I also picked up the jumbo clothespin and the oval mirror from the Salvation Army during my Thrift Store Challenge. The square clock and the small round mirror were both purchased at a different Salvay when I was checking out the Broadway store location a few weeks ago.

The small purple and green frames were only $1.50 each and were being sold in a big row of random things near the register at a Michael's craft store. They are super cheap frames with thin plastic sheets instead of glass and were intended only as desktop frames, with no means to hang them up on a wall. But I knew they were lightweight enough that some double-sided tape squares would hang them up, nooo problem. I love the detail on these little guys!

.  oh you're cute but i'ma paint the shit out of you  .

This was a bit of a motley crew of things to hang... clearly, none of the frames matched at all. But stay tuned because shit's about to get REAL UNIFORM. Keep readin'.

Step 2: Find a great arrangement for yo stuff.

Time to fiddle around, so get yo fiddlin' fingahs ready. Seriously guys, no shame here. Re-arrange as many times as you want until you see the arrangement that shouts "YES!" I shouted "NO!" several times before I found the right arrangement. Here's what I ended up with:

Step 3: Transfer that arrangement to paper, creating an outlined template of your grouping.

YHL used one large sheet of paper for this step, which is probably the best way to go. However, if you're not just casually stocked up with a ginormous roll of paper (you know, in case of emergency), you'll need to improvise here. I taped together several pieces of newspaper (remember, straight lines are important) to create one large sheet of paper that I could use to trace my arrangement.

You could have done this before Step 2 and then done all of your arranging on top of the piece of paper to begin with, but... shut up. Really though, it wasn't a big deal for me to snap a picture of the arrangement and then recreate it on top of the piece of paper.

Trace the outline of each item so that you have a template of exactly where everything will lie:

Because I was terrified that a black Sharpie marker would bleed through the paper, I used a blue highlighter marker to do this step (and the next one, too). Unfortunately it was so light that it didn't show up in these photos - so I went ahead and traced them for you so you can see the lines. If you didn't know, my Paintbrush skills are... unmatched. Notice I didn't say "incredible" or "super-talented." I said "unmatched." 

Step 4: Mark out where the nails will go. 

Get your precision hats on, ladies! Or just grab a ruler. No need to muss up your hair with a precision hat. Using the ruler, measure out on the back of each frame exactly where the nail will sit - how far "in" and how far "down" it needs to go.

Then measure that same spot out on your template, and mark it with a dot:

Step 5: Make your shit look a little more like it all "goes" together. 

This step is optional, depending on how well your particular group of stuff already looks and what kind of condition it's all in. Since my items were so random, I wanted to spruce them up a bit and paint some of them to make them look more uniform before I put them up on the wall. You know, make it look a little less like they'd all been purchased on several separate trips to three different stores.

I wanted the colors to be clean and gender neutral, since I share the bedroom with my handsome boyfriend. I chose a sage green spray paint and a matte white one. (Michael's has a great selection of spray paints in all types of finishes.) The plan was to paint some of the frames sage, some of them white, and leave some of them plain wood.

Before the paint though, you're going to want to give your frames a little washing, just to make sure your surfaces are nice and clean. Allow them to dry completely before you start actually painting them!

Most of my items had frames that I was able to remove before painting, but a couple of them did not. The square clock and the oval mirror both needed to have their frames painted, so I had to cover the clock face and the mirror by taping newspaper to them.

After laying out several sheets of newspaper on my balcony as drop cloth, I finally got to the fun part: spray painting!!  Since I'm not a tag artist by night, this isn't something I get to do often. Do as many coats as you want/need/desire. I kept re-evaluating and then adding more coats. Maybe I was just being spray-happy. WHO'S TO SAY?

I let them all dry fully for a couple of days (inside!) before I finally felt they were dry enough. This is definitely a project you need to have some patience for!

Very carefully remove the newspaper and tape from any faces you needed to cover during the painting process. Here I am admiring how well I taped my clock. I mean damn. Check out those lines.

Step 6: Tape your paper template to the wall in the place you want your cluster to hang.

Simple enough. Use a level to make sure you're hanging your template straight. You don't want to get this far and then fail at your template taping. DO YOU??

Step 7: HANG YO SHIT!

Ohmigodohmigodohmigod! Here's the step where you get to see if all of your hard work was in vain or if you actually succeeded in hanging up a whole wall full of stuff in straight lines that look good. READY??

Hammer? Check. Nails? Check. EXCITEMENT LEVELS HIGHER THAN REALLY NECESSARY? ...... CHECK. Let's get to nailin'.

Put a nail right through the paper in the center of each of the "nail dots" you made earlier in Step 4. Once you hammer in every nail, you can rip away the entire sheet of paper from the wall, leaving your nails in their correct places.

Hang up each of your frames and whatnots.... step back.... take a look.... and HOPEFULLY it's all straight!!!

Whoohooo!!

And, look what it's right above - the holiday lights/jars light situation:

.  DIYs on DIYs  .

As you can see, I've still got some frames to fill. I think I'll make a collage for the tall rectangle on top. The square frame in the center has a generic flower painting inside of it right now, which came with the frame from Salvay. Not sure what to do with that one quite yet, but eventually some solution will present itself. The two tiny frames from Michael's each got a dainty little collage - the two smallest collages I think I've ever made:

 

The smaller rectangular frame on the lower left will eventually get filled with a photo I think. The photo in the lower right was a gift from my sister - it's a picture that was taken down the street from our parents' house in Pittsfield. Also, I love the jumbo clothespin. I feel like Queen of the World for finding that one.

I am pretty pleased with the color scheme of the frames - and I'm a particular fan of the pretty random way that they are arranged, color-wise. I didn't want to consider their placement when I was painting them; I just wanted to paint each frame the color that I felt it should be painted, if that makes any sense. For example, I knew I wanted to painted the round mirror green, regardless of where it ended up in the arrangement.

Has this blog made you want to go cover an entire wall in your home with frames and jumbo-sized knick knacks? Hope sooooo!