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Showing posts with label Valentine. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Valentine. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 11, 2017

DIY Canvas Nursery Animals

Hi everyone! I'm back as promised with a tutorial on how to make the adorable nursery art we did for Sarah & Shaun's nursery.  This is a really easy project, with a great impact, we were pretty proud of ourselves.  (Oh ya - by the way - they had their baby! Georgia Rae was born on September 25th, 2017.. Congrats guys, she's adorable!)


So when Danielle and I were planning different projects for the room, these cute animal wall decals kept coming back into our heads, but there were a few problems.  The colors and simplicity were great, they weren't overly cartoonish, and they had great reviews so the quality checked out.  But we both agreed we didn't want the animals just "floating"anywhere in the room (that would have worked with say, birds in flight... but standing animals?), and would rather make a focal point out of them, but how? Also - they are renting this house & not sure how long they plan to stay, so we wanted as little future tear-down duties as possible.  Then one night, while organizing my mountains of craft supplies, I saw a pile of canvases, and it hit me - why didn't I think of that before, it's so simple! Adhering these cuties to canvas not only makes them movable, but creates a larger overall piece of wall art instead of just the stickers themselves.


So we gathered up our supplies, cleared the table & popped a beer - it was craft time!



You'll need:
First I chose & laid out 9 different sized canvases from my stash, even pulling a few fabric wrapped canvas leftovers from previous projects (for more about canvas wrapping click here, it's another super simple way to add wall art to a room).  
Here they are all cleaned up, I had to remove roughly 1-2 million staples from the backs of the 3 fabric wrapped canvases.... clearly my past self did not want that fabric going ANYWHERE.....
I always keep a huge roll of brown builders paper around the house.  Not only for impromptu projects like this one, but for when friends with little ones come over, brown paper becomes our color-able  table cloth.  Add a few jars full of washable markers & let them at it! All the adults end up drawing too, so it's fun all around.  You can find it near the paint at any hardware store, or online of course.

Then we just went for it! Both of us started most canvases with a solid base coat, and then built up from there.  The paints dry fairly quickly so you don't have to wait long.  Although, catching the paint before it dries makes for some fun blending!

We had no plan, just some good tunes & a Hawaiian beer..this was Lemongrass, which.. on first sip.. is pretty gross. Then a few sips later, is good! Island magic I guess...
Playing with the yellows.... I used a dry foam brush to fade between the yellow & orange. Just go for it, you can always paint over it if you don't like the results. (which I know I did at least once....)
We tried to mix up the patterns & colors to get a good variety, but all of them go along well with other colors in the room.  Orange & yellow weren't in our original plan, but the rug, a pillow & some sunshine plush toys were orange so we knew it would work just fine.
Don't forget to paint the edges if you don't want to frame your work.
That's where we quit for the night, and left them to completely dry.  Fast forward to the big day, and all we had to do was peel our stickers from the roll, and place them on the painted canvas. Unfortunately, we were moving along so quickly, I completely missed taking pictures of that step! But, really, all it would have been was a photo of one of our hands putting it in place... you know the drill.  The comforting thing about this step is these are completely removable & re-positionable, so that takes some pressure off.
Whoah, hello glare! For the record, the stickers ARE matte finish, I'm just not the most observant photographer - clearly! You know, side note - back when I started this blog, I was using a separate digital camera, then importing the photos, etc.  And now, I'm just using my phone you guys - truth be told.  But how can I not?! The resolution has gotten so great on phones that it long surpassed my old camera so.. what are ya gonna do? 
I really love the way they pop on that Healing Aloe wall!



So that's it! It's not a hard tutorial, doesn't really need step by steps... but it was fun to take pictures of our little painting party.  I love that it's so simple - There are thousands of these wall decals out there, so this same process can be used for any room, not just nurseries.  Would make a great gift, too!

If you missed the tour of the baby room, you can see that here - be sure to check out the video about halfway in the post, it puts the room into much better perspective. 

Well thanks for stopping by, hope you enjoyed this project - and if you make any canvas nursery animals, be sure to send them my way! I love seeing what you all are up to. Hit the links below, or you can tag me on Facebook & Instagram as @NineRed.

Have a good one!

-Jesse

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Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Valentine's Day Steaks & Wine

Source: Tasty Kitchen
Hey, whoah, panic - Valentine's Day is this Friday.  What's that? You haven't decked your house in hearts, arrows, and bowl after bowl full of adorable candies? (Kudos to those of you who are on top of it!) Yea - me neither, I'm still wrapping my head around writing 2014 on all my checks (yea, I still write checks sometimes!). No big deal, you're house doesn't have to look like a vignette from Victoria's Secret to enjoy the day.  Personally, this holiday has never meant very much to me, and I can't stand those little pastel heart candies anyway.  Seriously, thinking about them makes me feel sick, and I think their wrapper is even worse.

Anyway... whether I've been single or not on V-day however, it's always been a fantastic reason to eat a really really good dinner. Whether it be with a partner, a group of good friends, or alone  - the only strict rule I've had was to eat & eat well.  So,  all the restaurants are going to be packed, why not make a great meal at home?

Ralph and I have held up a great tradition of eating steaks & drinking red wine on Valentine's day, or some variation of it. (Here's last years post).  Many moons ago, one of our first dates was trying to learn to cook a steak together. Neither of us knew how to do it, so we thought learning something together would be a fun & cheesy date, right?  Well it was really easy, and really delicious, and this year, I want skirt steak!

It's even easier, and I swear even more delicious.  Luckily it's not the most expensive cut, either. Recently we found (and tested) the most perfect skirt steak recipe ever, from the blog Tasty Kitchen.  It's easy, and it's amazing.  As for sides this year? I'm leaning towards shrimp, asparagus, and more red wine.

Any plans for you this year? Any interesting traditions that aren't the norm? Enjoy it either way, even if you aren't into Valentine's Day per se, hey - at least it's a Friday! 

-Jesse

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Grossest Candies EVER! haha....

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Thursday, February 14, 2013

Steaks & Red Wine

Oh, was I supposed to make a Valentine's Day post?  Looks like it! Happy Valentine's day to all you lovers out there, whether single, coupled, or miscellaneous (I don't judge!) - this day is just another reason to get together and celebrate and do things you wouldn't normally do. Whether that's an expensive dinner in the city, or a night full of ice cream nachos (oh I'll fill you in soon...), it's special just the same.  For me? I haven't really ever given ol' V-day too much thought, but an interesting tradition did develop in our house, pretty naturally, and that's steaks & good red wine.
Photo Creds: Pic #1; Jinkzz's Kitchen, Pic #2; Closet Cooking
The only rule is that we make them ourselves (No not the wine...). Yep - no restaurants, no fancy chefs - not because we're anti or anything, but that's just how it's always been.  And it's not exclusive kissy kissy date night either (sorry folks!).  Friends are welcome, cause we love them too.  See Ralph and I couldn't cook a steak for our life when we first met, and one of our first few dates was learning to cook a good steak together. Yep - that was a date.  Learning something new, in my opinion, is very romantic.  So, on our first Valentine's Day, we decided we wanted to do it again. Only this time we'd toss in some good red wine & decadent side dishes. I can't remember what sides we had back then, but this year the menu will be:
  • Kick ass Steaks...
  • Kick ass red wine....
  • Asparagus with Hollandaise sauce...
  • Potatoes AuGratin ala Julia Child..
Woo! Tonight's gonna be pretty decadent, and delicious.  I think this year for our steaks we'll follow the recipes from the photos above, 'cause they look so good.   Here are the links, the top photo is from Jinkzz's Kitchen and the bottom is from Closet Cooking.  Both have the recipes included, so pop over to them for the deets.  I'd better head out, gotta prep the foodies for tonight. 

So what shenanigans do you get into on Valentine's day? Tell me, tell me! For some reason this made me look back at what I was up to last February.. time flies! If you want to see, clicky here...

Happy Valentine's Day Beezies!

     -Jesse

Next Up >>> Honey & Soy Chicken Thighs
    
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