Dream Canvas

Pinterest is probably my favorite source for ideas and, well, favorite website in general. I happened to pin this idea a while ago and when my grandma had found some old canvas in her basement that she didn't want. I knew this was exactly what I was going to do with it. I did everything the same as the original pin I had seen except I didn't use just corkboard. The blog this idea is from is called "Honey & Fitz." This lady has tons of great ideas! Here's her picture of the complete project:

And here's mine:

Supplies:

Canvas

Cork (Try to use as thick as possible cork so the nails will hold)

Linoleum nails (I used a little over 2 packs)

Embroidery string

Black paint

Painter's tape

Paint brushes

Hot glue gun

Directions:

1. On Honey & Fitz's blog, she makes it really easy for you to complete her project by giving you a PDF of the font she used for her letters. To use her font simply download it off of her blog at: Honey & Fitz. If you scroll right after the supplies list there is a link that goes to a Google Doc of the font. I had to download it and resize it to be smaller so it would fit on my canvas. 

2. Once I did that, I taped together the paper and positioned in on my canvas where I wanted the "dream" to be and started nailing along the outline of the letters!

3. The next part is a little tricky. Once you have all of the letters outlined, you need to take off the paper. I slowly lifted the paper and had to tear it at some points so the nails wouldn't lift out. There isn't really a method to it but just try to be as careful as possible or you'll find yourself lifting all of the nails out of the cork and having to re-nail them in.This is what it will look like after you're done!

NOTE: The canvas looks a little rough right now (mine is really old but on top of it, gluing the cork behind the canvas left dents in places. Don't worry though! When you add a trim of black paint, it helps disguise it and you can barely tell)

4. Now it's time to start stringing! I liked the way the rainbow colors looked on Honey & Fitz's version so I stuck with that but you can really do any colors you'd like! I started at the top of the "d" by tying a knot around one nail and then just criss-crossing it until I was ready to switch to another color. Once again, there is not true method to stringing the letters. If you don't like the look of it, just undo your string and start again! 

5. After getting the entire word strung with the embroidery string, it's time to mask off the border with painter's tape! I did my border fairly thick (approx. 3 inches) but again, you can do it however you like!

6. And the final step...PAINT! I did two coats of black paint and also painted the outside edges of the canvas to make it look more crisp and clean.

Starbucks Door Decs

The spring semester starts tomorrow and God knows I'm not ready for the work to start piling up again! A month long break just never seems long enough...Yet, there is an exciting factor to starting a new semester for any R.A. that is new floor themes!
Each semester R.A.'s go through the process of figuring out what the exciting theme of the floor will be this semester. What do my residents like? What is something completely unique and never been done before? Of course, there is your typical Disney theme or superheroes but I wanted something new.
The weather in Cape has been pretty gloomy and the temperature seems to be dropping by the minute. When classes begin and the university opens, every student on campus and their brother will be hitting up the Starbucks on campus. It's, without a doubt, the most popular dining establishment for Southeast students.
So I got to thinking....cold weather, Starbucks, deliciousness, nectar of the Gods...I'll do a coffee theme!
Luckily, I have a friend who's dad is a Starbucks manager and hooked me up with 30+ Starbucks coffee sleeves or I would've had to made a lot of trips to Starbucks to nibble away at taking the amount I needed for all of my residents.
The coffee cups turned out cute and they were really simple to make. I just made a template for the cup and the lid, traced, and cut! I thought it would be more fun to get cute, colorful scrapbook paper for the cups rather than plain white. My floor is also all girls so that added to it being okay.
Door decs is the slang term resident assistants use for door decorations, which are what go on each residents door with their name on it.
Here's how they turned out:

Shutter Headboard

With about a week left of winter break, it's time that I post the projects that I've been working on while being stress-free of homework and enjoying the holiday season! The month of December has flown by and 2013 quickly crept up to me. Along with the typical New Year's resolutions of getting into the best shape I can and pledging to take time out  of my busy schedule every once in awhile to enjoy all that life has to offer, I'm making the resolution to hopefully post projects more frequently on Diary of a Crafty Girl and to really get my blog on a roll. Therefore, starting 2013 off with a bang, I'm posting a project that I've been working on for awhile (basically on weekends I was home from school over the past two months). 

This project is what I call a shutter headboard. The name says it all. I took four shutters that you would normally use for your windows on the outside of your home, spray painted them, stenciled an elegant design, and hung them behind my bed as a headboard. It was a really simple, affordable way to transform shutters into something that looks a lot more sophisticated. My room consists of a Paris theme with three of my walls painted the light purple that you see in the photo and the fourth wall a dark purple. Throughout my room I have mostly black accents so that's why I went with spray painting the shutters a shiny black and the stenciling really popped against it. I'm thinking about adding a strand of lights along the edge of the headboard, but that's still up for debate. Check it out and I hope you're inspired to make your own!

BEFORE:

AFTER: