because I’m too cheap to pay for a vinyl decal.

Are you noticing a pattern?

The fact that there are some things I won’t pay good money for not only saves me said money but also makes me stretch my creative muscles.

The back story: Last summer my husband installed vinyl windows in our home to replace a few of the wood ones that were original to the home, circa 1949. I just happened to keep those windows knowing that I’d want to use them someday. When deciding that I’d use one in Addison’s new room I scoured the internet and Pinterest in hopes of finding something that would spark my interest and inspire me. I found nothing.

That’s when I decided that I’d slap a vinyl decal (or rubon as we scrapbookers call them) on it and call it good. There were plenty to choose from. But I, as previously stated, will not spend that much money on one. After browsing the aisles of Joann’s I found this and decided it’d have to be the alternative. Liquid leading is apparently supposed to be used for creating the outlines of stained glass projects like this. I was going to use it as paint itself as I only wanted a silhouette of my image. And, if you look at the computer screen over there <—- (click on it to see it larger) you can see the image that I was inspired by. I went with the bird on branch thing because it's organic, as in it's from nature (as is everything else in her room as far as prints and patterns go) and because let's face it, the girl loooooves birds. She squeals, and points and oooooohhhss delightfully when she sees them.

The project:
Since I'd had the window laying around for awhile I painted the trim awhile ago so that it'd be ready when I decided what I was going to use it for. For the liquid leading to adhere properly the glass has to be clean so I did so until it squeaked. My glass surface measures about 24" x 32" so I used two pieces of paper (by taping them together) from Terrance's floor pad to make something that was almost big enough. I used it to do a very rough sketch of my branch on it. And when I say rough, I mean rough–it's just something to guide me with my proportions, spacing, and placement of the branch on the window. When creating the sketch I referred to my chosen image which you can see closely by clicking here.

The next step is placing it face up on the back of the window, I just used scotch tape to adhere it.

This allows you to see the sketch and use it as a template when applying the liquid leading.

From here it’s just a matter of creating the branch by outlining the sketch (and improvising when necessary) and then filling it in. A small brush worked very well for spreading the leading into the tips especially but everywhere really. It’s much like painting, just be sure not to spread the liquid leading out too much or it will be transparent when it dries. If so, it can be touched up so don’t worry but it’s something to keep in mind.

This is the finished foundation of my branch. I say foundation because there’s much more to be added–smaller branches, leaves and of course the bird. Notice too that my branch wasn’t exactly what I’d sketched out. I made some changes as I was drawing/painting it on to better fit the window.

This is the finished branch after adding more to it. Something to consider when doing this: there are patterns in nature–mathematically speaking they’re called fractal’s. More so, it’s a pattern created by repetition of the exact same thing at different scales. Does that make sense? Basically, when adding the smaller branches I tried to make the same shape of the larger branch. I’m sure if you look closely enough you’ll be able to see the similarities between them. In that way it makes the branch look like a real branch rather than a made up one. Get it?

Here’s the part about keeping your leading thick enough when spreading it. Notice that there are parts that are transparent.

While continuing to hold it upright with one hand I painted over the transparent parts with the other.

So, now that the branch was done I needed a bird. Once I found one I liked I hijacked it off the internet (don’t judge me), printed it, adjusted it accordingly to my branch and taped it to the back of my window.

Using the same method as with the branch sketch I outlined and filled in the bird and DONE!

I put it my craft room over night and it was dry and ready to be hung by morning.

because I’m too cheap to pay 4 bucks for a styrofoam ball

I was forced to find an alternative to the beautiful fabric pom poms I’ve been eyeballing all over Pinterest.

Addison has her own room and it’s in dire need of decor. I wanted something more mature than hearts and rainbows hanging from the ceiling–the pom poms seemed to be perfect. Once I realized how costly they were going to be (yes, $10 is too much for a single decor item–I’m not kidding–I’m a big cheapy when it comes to these kinds of things) I walked the aisles of the craft store until I’d thought of this. I came home with a large bunch of silk flowers that were 40% off of $7.99 so, you do the math. There were 7 large flowers in the bunch and the first thing I did was rip them apart.

I plugged my glue gun in, got my roll of lavender tulle and some scissors and started layering (from bottom to top). By that I mean this: two silk flowers, 6 or 8 rectangles of tulle, a glob of glue, two more silk flowers and then SQUISH!

Once the stack of tulle was pressed into the glue I’d lift the top two silk flowers and put another glob of glue on top of the stack of tulle to ensure that the top two silk flowers really stick. Also I found that a low heat glue gun works best for this whole project.

Once the flowers and tulle are set, trim the tulle. And really, don’t think too hard about this…there’s not a wrong way to do it….so just do it.

Continue the layering until you’re getting close to being done…which you’ll know when you are as the space will become tight. To finish it off, take a few smaller rectangles of tulle, fold them over and gather them in a corner, pinch and glue it as is into the center so it looks something like this.

So once I was done with my one bouquet of flowers I had three little puffs and decided it wasn’t enough. Went back to the store, got another bouquet and when I was finished I had seven. Using cotton crochet thread I strung them up and tacked them to the ceiling above Addison’s crib. They look like this.

a corner of my home.

This is my favorite part of my living room…I feel like my vision is fulfilled in it’s entirety right here. There are bits and pieces elsewhere but this–THIS–makes me stop and stare (minus the wing back chair–that’s a project waiting to happen–finding the right fabric is the issue–someday it will match!)  Not to mention that I bargain shopped like it was going out of style for this furniture. The four pieces you see were all purchased for less than $200. The sofa: $120, the white scalloped table: $8, the two tiered round table: $30, the wing back chair: $25. I stalk craigslist on a daily basis. 

T’s new room (finally).

We recently (okay, so not so recently, more like back in December) we moved Terrance upstairs and Addison out of our room and in to T’s old room so both girls have their own room and Addison’s is in severe need of decor.  

When we first looked at this house one of the things that I really, really loved was all the vintage charm that came with it–like the half story upstairs–or as I call them, the rooms with the slanty ceilings–there’s a big one (like 200 sq ft big) with a 1/2 bath and a small one (like 120 sq ft small). The small one is my cozy little nook of a craft room and the big one is what we recently redid for Terrance. When we bought the place it looked like this: 

Yes, the green was sage and so not a good color for the room considering the one window and lack of natural lighting. Yes, the white trim was a good 20 years old if not older, dingy, stained and just gross. And yes, the carpet was sooooo dirty and so gross and so stained and smelled. Basically the room was just gross. When we (Joe) were finished it looked like this: 
 

In a word, it’s beautiful and the pictures don’t even come close to doing it justice. It’s a little girl’s haven. I would have died for a room like it when I was a little girl. Right next to the shop vac is the teeny little half bathroom and across the way is my teeny little craft room. When Addison is older–probably 3 or so–we’ll move her upstairs so they can share this big room (because I strongly believe that sharing a room with your sister is something a girl should experience) and my craft room will be moved downstairs so that the teeny room upstairs can be an extension of their bedroom, which I think is genius! They’ll have the WHOLE upstairs to themselves. It will be glorious.