Burlap Art

Don't you love it?!  The walls in our half bath were pretty empty and it's always bothered me.

Hobby Lobby had a set of two of these canvases for around seven dollars.  I didn't really have a plan when I bought them but figured one out pretty quick.

I had some burlap already because I stocked up before it was officially fall season when it would be hard to find.  I am a huge fan of this method to cut burlap when you need a straight line.  Measure to where you want it cut, snip it about an inch,

pull one of the threads in that snip and start pulling.  You will be able to pull that one thread all the way out

leaving you a line as a guide so you can cut with scissors and be sure its straight.

I cut my burlap a little bigger than the canvases.

 

I laid out four pieces of contact paper leaving a small line open where I wanted to paint the wire.  I used fabric paint for this but because the paint doesn't need to be flexible when dry I probably could have used anything.

Here it is with the wire done.

I found a bird online that I liked and printed and traced it onto paper.  I used a sharpie to trace around my stencil.

I wanted them slightly different so I just made the second bird a little shorter and fluffier when tracing and also changed the tail feathers slightly.

Painted inside the sharpie lines and let it dry.

I knew I wanted the words in the upper corner and was worried that they wouldn't be straight or positioned wrong so I went ahead and stapled the burlap to the canvases before painting the words on.

I used my silhouette to cut out the words on the contact paper.

I went back over the words with the black sharpie to touch up areas that were to light.

One more look at the finished project.

 Jeannie

Making base housing feel like home

Part of being married to a Marine (or anyone in the military) is moving. In the past four years, we have lived in 4 places with the longest being a year and a half. But next month, we will be moving into base housing and hopefully be there for awhile. Anyone in the military knows base housing is simple and basic. I will not complain though because it is over double the size of the place we are at now and has a yard! I want this next house to feel like a nice, cozy home.

The floor plan has a family room and living room, along with a dining room, kitchen, laundry room and half bath downstairs. The front living room will become the boys' play room. I hate clutter so having all their toys in our living room as been stressing me out so I am beyond happy they will have their own space. But, now I have to decorate it. I have pinning like crazy to come up with inexpensive decorating ideas. I want to had color, texture and design without painting or doing anything that we won't be able to remove. So here is my list of ideas and inspiration on making base housing feel like home (without painting or permanent fixtures):

Chevron Curtains. I will be doing these for the boys' playroom but with blue paint. A Drop in the Bucket

Bookshelves - I have two cheap bookshelves from Target that have always been in our spare bedroom. Now one is in the living room and one is in the boys room. I would like to add a pop over color and design to both of them with this wondering idea from In My Own Style

Magnetic Board....let me just say, GENIUS! We have lots of magnets and they seem to always be all over my kitchen floor so I think this is a great idea for the playroom from From Baby P makes Three

Growth chart by Adventures in Decorating and Design. Moving means not being able to bring a door frame with your little ones ages with you when you  move so this will be great to be able to take with us along our adventure as a Marine Family. 

DIY Picture Canvas. I am going to do a collage of our family photos on DIY canvas like done by Mommy Models Blog . 

My list goes on and on but for now, I think those projects will keep me busy. 

Any ideas on how to make a new house feel like a home on a budget? Any ideas on how to transform base housing into a place you feel at in? I would love to here ideas!

- Sabrina