I'm Simply Excited About Simply Said!

Simply what now? I know, many of you probably haven't heard of Simply Said. I hadn't either until recently. But, now that I'm in the know…you can bet you're gonna be as excited as I am after I give you the skinny!

I've signed on with Simply Said, a relatively new company that sells vinyl designs. That means I'll be a consultant selling the stuff!  Take a look at how some people are using the designs in their home:

Talk about fun ways to decorate your kids' rooms! Simply Said offers growth charts, custom name vinyls, fun quotes, and sayings centered around things they love, like sports, animals, etc. The designs offered for nurseries are downright adorable!

 I love, love, love the way these vinyls work with wall galleries. By far, this is my favorite method of decorating with them. In fact, I am working on my own "wallscape." What's a wallscape? (other than a word I just made up and you'll hear me talk about endlessly) Like landscaping that includes plants, flowers, stone, etc in a variety of colors, widths and heights to create a visually pleasing effect, wallscaping is the same thing. You take a variety of elements, like mirrors, frames, canvas-wrapped photos, wooden initials, and any other item that strikes your fancy (right now I'm seeing a lot of nautical-themed items like oars) and put them up on the wall in a grouping. Simply Said vinyl designs are perfect for adding to the grouping. MORE to come on wallscaping - I want to finish my first one and promise to share pics!

 I like these over a mantel, especially on the spacious walls like this. I also love the designs that feature your own last name, with the year your home was built. 

While I think this design is really pretty, it needs a little something more to anchor it. However, I included it here so you can see how the designs can be customized in the color of your choice to match your decor. There's over 40 colors to choose from!

Ahh that tree! See how its 3 colors? 

You choose the size and colors that work for your space with each design. 

Of course being the bird lady that I am, I adore this one! 

There's plenty of faith-based quotes and designs, too. (where can I get this big beautiful rocking chair??)

This is so elegant! There's so many sayings that fit particular rooms in your house. For example in the bedroom: "Always kiss me goodnight." For the dining room: "Talk much, Sit long, Eat well." For the laundry room: "Wash your worries away." There's something for every room in the house - even the man cave! (think fishing, hunting, camping, gaming-related designs)

They're great on flat walls, but you can put these on glass, textured surfaces, tile, front doors, even your painted furniture! You know that rocks my world - just wait, I will be doing posts to show you how, and will have a few samples for you very soon!  Think about it - no more time-consuming transfers that need to be printed out, transferred over and painted in. No more stencils with soft bleed-through edges. These look like they are painted on, with the crisp edges I could never achieve with a stencil. For anyone who's done transfer or stencils on their furniture, you know this will be a huge time-saver!

Isn't this clever? The wall accents come with the time mechanism, too! Simply Said has lots of artistic elements too - its not just quotes and inspiring sayings.  (see the pic below) They have modern images of trees, floral motifs,   even vinyls that can be written on with chalk or wipe off markers! 

I must do a design on my shower doors. My master bath is the only room in my house I have yet to decorate, and now I have the starting point! You can put any design on glass. There's cute ones for the front of the washer and dryer, too!

There's an entire catalog of spanish designs, too. (and aren't those chairs in front of the bed to die for!)

Here's probably the best part for someone who's tastes change frequently - these come off the wall easily without destroying your paint. So, when you feel like redecorating, its a breeze to take off the old and put up the new!

Putting them up is easy easier than I thought. Here's a quick video to show you how.

You know I love things related to home decor and crafting. And I've always worked in marketing and PR, so this job fulfills a part of me that enjoys blogging, Face-booking and planning parties! You guessed it - I'll be having parties and hoping that my friends will host a party, too. If that sounds like fun to you, drop me a line. 

In the meantime, look forward to my photos and tips on using Simply Said in your home and DIY!

Soon, I will post info about my launch party, and a website where you can see the entire catalog.

Thanks for always following along, and for getting excited with me!

Do-It-Yourself Framed Canvas Project - From an Ordinary Photo

Last night was our monthly craft club meeting. Our lovely neighbor Tara hosted, and she taught us how to turn a regular photo into a framed work of art! As a professional photographer, Tara has a houseful of amazing photos that I thought were printed on canvas. One hanging in her hallway is stunning, and inspired this month's meeting!

I know its hard to see in photos, but when you walk up close and touch the surface, they have the delicate texture you find on a canvas. Last night, she let us all in on her secret. And now you can craft your own canvas look-alikes, too (for a fraction of the price I might add)!

Here's what you will need:
-A standard printed photo of any size (a great place to get prints at really reasonable prices is Costco)
-A frame
-A piece of foam board (you can buy this by the sheet at any craft store with a framing section)
-Mod Podge and foam brushes for applying
-A straight edge, cutting board and exacto knife (if you need to cut down your photo, or foam board)
-Sponges
-Rolling pin thingy
-Black and gold paint (optional)

2) First, find a photo you like and get it printed in the size you desire. 

Ever since a trip to Luckett's 2 years ago, I have wanted a huge piece of art with a white horse on it. They had a gorgeous framed arabian horse, and wow - I stared at this beauty. But the price tag was insane! I haven't forgotten that horse, so when this opportunity to make my own big piece of art came along, I hopped on a stock photography website to find my own white horse. I used Shutterstock. I was able to purchased and immediately download a "Super" high-resolution sized image (28.6" x 19.0" at 300 DPI) for only $19!! Once I downloaded the image from Shutterstock, I then uploaded it to the Costco photo center website. There I opted to printer a poster-sized photo in 30" x 20." This only cost $8.99! And it was ready in just a few hours!

3) Find a frame. Ideally, you want your frame to be the same size as your print. But, if your photo is bigger than the frame, you can always cut it down. Simply use a straight-edge or ruler, cutting board and exacto knife to get the size you need. Cut your foam board to the same size as your print.

Here's a tip - custom frames can be outrageously expensive (Trust me - the one I wanted for this project from Michael's was $400!) So, there's a few things you can do, buy a plain frame and paint it, which is what I did. Or, go to a place like HomeGoods, and score a clearance mirror and just remove the mirrored part. Instant frame!)

4) Once your print and foam board are cut to the correct size, gather your Mod Podge (we all used Matte, but Glossy is also available), a foam brush, and the rolling pin thingy. Liberally apply mod podge all over the foam board, creating a smooth layer. Cover the entire piece and make sure to get the edges. Here's Tara demonstrating!

5) Next, place your print over the foam board, and begin smoothing it out with the rolling pin thingy. Try to remove any and all air bubbles. Move in all directions. Once you have it smoothly in place, allow it to dry. This might take about 10 minutes - it dries rather quickly. At this point, we stopped to enjoy Tara's delicacies, which included homemade candied walnuts (to die for)!!

Isn't this a great photo? Another one of Tara's awesome shots!

6) After it dries, here comes the fun part...

Spread another liberal layer of mod podge right over the print. Work quickly, so it doesn't dry, because you immediately want to "stipple" the mod podge with a sponge. We used everyday dish sponges, that were split down the middle to reveal the bumpy texture inside. You can used other sponges, too - choose the size of the holes you prefer. Some sponges create larger stipple, while others create a smaller, finer stipple. We all opted for these dish sponges, which made larger stipple.

 Quickly dab the sponge on the wet mod podge. Dab the whole print, until you see the texture everywhere.

You dab fast, hence the speedy hand photo here!

When you are done, your entire print will look like this. Don't worry, the mod podge dries clear, and will only leave behind the texture - giving it the canvas look! We waited for it to dry, and then went back and did a second layer of the stippling.

Here's the white stippled mod podge on my horse.

After they dry, you simply insert your piece into the frame!

Here you can see the texture well in the top-left corner! Liza made this work of art!

She also made this one of her wedding bands on the beach - again you can really see the texture on the shaded areas in the bottom right.

Here's Tara's - isn't the frame awesome! It was originally a mirror!

Here's two Kelly did!

And Kim's shot from Hawaii!

Now that we've told you how this is done, let's talk about a few "special techniques," for aging your photos. Kristi worked on these two dog images as a special memento for her parents who just lost their beloved pets. Since her original photos were a bit blurry, she wanted to make them look old and "grainy," like a lot of old photos used to be back in the day. For the Photoshop users out there, you would called this adding "noise." To achieve this noise, Kristi added a tiny bit of black craft paint to her mod podge, stirred well, and then stippled. You can really see it well on the right-hand shot.  They turned out great!

In this photo Tara showed us how to age a piece two ways. She watered down a gold craft paint, and sponged it all over the image. You know how photos tend to turn yellow over the years - she made it happen instantaneously! Then she used watered-down black craft paint to create a silhouette around the edges. So cool!

Tara turned her kitchen into a serious studio for us with long tables covered in paper!

Here she is demonstrating the aging techniques!

Since my horse piece was so big, I needed help to get it smoothed out quickly and remove the air bubbles before the mod dried!

I LOVE how it turned out. I know its really hard to see the texture in my photos, especially on the white areas - but trust me, its there, and it feels so cool!

Remember how I said you could paint your frame? That's what I did here...finding a cool 20x30 frame or mirror was impossible. I could only find a plain black one. So, I dry-brushed a couple of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint colors over the black, and it changed the whole look. I can't wait to hang this in my home!

Thank you to Tara for all of her hospitality, and for teaching us how to make our own custom-canvases! I know I will be doing this again and again!

The Bench that Might be More Than I Bargained For

A couple of weeks ago, as I was anxiously awaiting the Annie Sloan Chalk Paint workshop, I spied a little bench at one of my favorite consignment shops in Haymarket, called The Very Thing. First, let me tell you that this place is a stone's throw from my house, and I visit it nearly everyday. I have found some great things there - unusual stuff I wouldn't get anywhere else - ever! Like a Hillary Clinton-autographed & framed illustration of the Christmas room in the White House, which I couldn't wait to surprise my mother-in-law with this past holiday!

So, this bench was in one of their small rooms, flanked by about 5 pillows and tucked behind even more items. It was like a chameleon - hidden in its habitat. It was so plain-jane, it had virtually disappeared among the other stuff. Perhaps that's why there's was a sale tag on it for $75.00. Furniture doesn't go on sale too often at The Very Thing, unless its been there for a while. Believe me, their stuff moves fast. I have sold countless things there, and one day I scored these two fabulous chairs within minutes of them arriving into inventory.

Anyway, I might have overlooked the bench if I wasn't looking at things through new eyes. Eyes that searched for old or otherwise unwanted things hungering for a makeover. The bench fit the bill. But not for $75.00. So, I offered $50, and was bingo - she went into my truck!

Here it is, waiting a turn for new life, in my garage...

When I spied her I thought, "ooh, I can reupholster the seat and back cushions, too!" I've done that before. I had noticed at The Very Thing that the cushions were already peeling up from the wood. Upon closer inspection, it appeared they were just hot-glued down. So I figured that removing them would be easy-breezy, right?

WRONG! Here's where this project got hairy...

I went into the garage to look at her and imagine what color I was going to paint those lovely spindles and curved arms. I don't plan to paint this piece until I have few more under my belt, and feel more confident about not ruining it. But, I wanted to at least start on the fabric portion. So, I attempted to remove the top fabric on the back. Remember, I thought I would just be a matter of pulling it off. I started slowly, and could muster no more than turning down the edges. So, I got out a flat-head screwdriver, thinking I needed something to get down inside further. I poked, prodded, and felt like it just wouldn't give. Something was holding it tight. And like any woman who can't open a stubborn pickle jar, I called my husband.

He too had problems. I'm thinking, "that's some damn strong glue," when he gave it all his brute strength (Hubby is a big guy with big muscles). Off came the fabric - the FIRST LAYER of fabric!
I was so excited - it was like unearthing a piece of history, seeing the older fabric underneath. Then I joked with Hubby that perhaps there was a copy of the Declaration of Independence under the seat cushions!

So here is what we removed:

And here is what we discovered underneath:

The two fabrics are very similar. Part of me wondered why someone would bother to cover it with nearly the same fabric. Maybe they didn't like the little frilly edging? At any rate, look at the above photo - see all those staples? Those staples were from the first piece of fabric Hubby yanked off. Only the edges had been glued down - to hide all of these staples. We knew there was no way to pull this next layer off.  Plus, as a very inexperienced seamstress, I know my limitations. I have no idea how to make piping to hide staple edges, like the last person had done. Nor, was I really wanting to take the time to learn. (I am impatient, and just wanted to get this done easily without having to turn on my sewing machine)

We decided it was easiest to remove the back panel:

I initially thought I would salvage the wood, recover it, and wood glue it back in. But, it turned out the wood, was just some cheap, paper-thin material that splintered, cracked and buckled in our hands.

And that wasn't the worst part. Here's what the bench looked like now:

Two rows of staples. And I mean a lot of friggin staples! I spent 2 days pulling these things out with a pair of pliers. I got blisters and a backache from this crap.

Hubby pulled out a few before he gave up and went back inside. It would have been much easier, had the row of newer staples not kept breaking in half, leaving us with tiny pieces of metal sticking out of the wood. The first row and older staples were much stronger and in most cases came out in one piece.

So, the next step was to sand down the leftover bits of staple still lodged in the back:

I borrowed my neighbor's Dremel and sanded down the bits of metal. Hubby came out to find me doing this with sparks flying. He said I looked like I was welding. Ha! Once I was down to wood, the next step was to sand the area smooth, as some of the staple left holes and lifted wood. I used very course sandpaper.

And here is what it looks like now. Very smooth! You can still see the row of embedded staples, but at least you can't feel them anymore (or risk being stabbed in the back when seated).

So now that the back is ready for paint, I have decided that I will not be adding new upholstery to the back again. I rather like how the empty spaces look up top.

And I will NOT be going through this whole procedure again for the seat. See how the seat, propped against the wall, has 2 individual cushions? I can not yank even one more staple! Instead, I plan to add plenty of batting over the whole thing, cover it and replace it as a single cushion. I promise to share pics of that too.

What I can show you now, is the very pretty fabric I found for this job:

It is Waverly home decor fabric, which I purchased on sale at Jo-Ann's Fabric. The floral, called "Fairhaven, from the Vintage Florals Collection, " will be used on the seat cushion. The ticking, called "General Store, from the Ticking Stripes Collecion," will be used to cover a pillow form I got. I figure a little pillow on the bench will look very pretty. And I loved both these fabrics so much, I just couldn't choose!

My next step with this project will likely be the pillow or seat cushion. I want to paint a few other items before I start this. Hopefully the rest of the work will be easier!