A silver robin's nest

My friend Lyndsey made this beautiful robin's nest pendant for me with her very talented hands (and she's not even a jewelry maker by profession). The gift was a surprise and arrived in the mail this past Christmas Eve. It's so sweet and I simply love it.

Click here to read more about Lyndsey and how we met.

Wall art project part II (and a tutorial)

Hi Nesters,

Here's the second part of the wall art project I worked on last weekend. If you missed it, here's part I (Deconstructed Wall Art). I'm showing you the reveal first because I know you'll just scroll down to the bottom before you finish reading this post anyway. ;)

If you're interested in how I did this project, check out the rest of the post...I've given you a little tutorial.

Decoupaged initials and bird, egg and bird cage graphics adorn our family room wall (cause you know I love me some "bird" stuff)

"R" for Robyn (that's me)

"J" for Jason (my husband)

Vintage bird cage graphic

Vintage birds nesting graphic

Vintage bird eggs graphic

Before: A similar picture to the one you see here on the left was hanging on right side of the mirror. I don't have a before photo of them all together, but you get the idea.

After

Tutorial:

I started out with MDF (medium density fiberboard) letters that were painted white from the craft store. They had a hanging hole already drilled in the back but they didn't hang straight so I used 3M foam adhesive squares.

• I painted each letter (top and sides) with soft black acrylic craft paint
• Then I affixed scrapbook paper to the top of each letter using Mod Podge (I did not top coat it yet)
• I used sandpaper to remove the excess paper and give the edges a timeworn look
• I added paper embellishments to each letter (words, pictures, scrabble tiles, etc.)
• I covered the entire project with a coat of Mod Podge to seal it
• For the graphic prints, I went to The Graphics Fairy and downloaded them (for FREE!) and printed them in the sizes I needed onto card stock. I then shopped my closets and found some frames I wasn't using. One of the smaller ones was antique gold so I gave it a quick coat of the soft black acrylic craft paint and then roughed up the edges to give it a vintage-y feel.

More photos of the painting process and adding the decorative paper using the letter "B" from my previous wall project as as example:

Again, the final result!

Thanks for checking our my latest home project. If you enjoyed this post, please add yourself as a follower ("Nester").

I'm sharing this project at:

• Brag Monday at The Graphics Fairy
• Making the World Cuter Monday at Making the World Cuter
• Get Your Craft on Tuesday at Today's Creative Blog
• Tip Me Tuesday at Tip Junkie
• Anything Related Tuesday at All Thingz Related
• Tuesday Trash to Treasure at Rural Grace
• Tutorial Tuesday at Hope Studios
• Transformation Thursdays at The Shabby Chic Cottage
• Everything But the Kitchen Sink Thursday at A Little Knick Knack
• Frugal Friday at The Shabby Nest
• Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home
• It's a Hodgepodge Friday at It's a Hodgepodge Life
• Saturday is Crafty Day at Along for the Ride
• Marvelously Messy

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Deconstructed wall art collage & tutorial

"Every act of creation is first of all an act of destruction.” ~ Pablo Picasso

I've dabbled in many types of crafty media over the years, but collaging is one of my favorites. However, I've never done it on this large a scale before.

Here are a few examples of my collage work using torn pre-printed paper, rubber stamping, heat embossing (do you see my signature gold bee on each item?), stickers, walnut ink, chalk, ephemera, buttons, beads, fibers, etc.

Below is a journal/scrapbook/photo album (can be used for whatever) I made for my daughter several years ago. I think she was around 8 or 9 (she's 14 now). Inside, I stamped a rainbow dragonfly and wrote. . .

To my daughter Sierra,

Follow your heart, dream big, always be yourself.

Love, Mommy

She still hasn't used it yet though. She says it's too pretty and she doesn't want to mess it up. Maybe when she's older and has children of her own, she'll put their photos in it. Who knows.

I made this book as a gift for a friend who was the out-going secretary of a club that I was going to be the new secretary for.

I made this bookmark for a friend who lives far away and was going to travel even farther away on vacation. I made it in the hopes that she would be able to use it while relaxing with a good book.

So on to my most recent collage project. . .
Flanking both sides of a mirror over my fireplace are two pieces of 20" x 20" art (I use the term art very loosely) that are very similar but different. I purchased them for lack of finding anything else to put in their place. I wasn't in love with them and always knew I'd find something else to replace them. They've been up for almost a year and I haven't found anything to take their place so I decided to make something myself utilizing what I already had.

This is what I started with. It looks like cheap hotel art. I can't believe I actually bought it (and its mate) and hung it up. I must have been desperate and had a temporary lapse in judgment.

My inspiration from a magazine.

The back side of the art.

I ripped off the paper backing.

Removed the many staples and the cardboard backing.

Removed the art that was taped in place and the glass. All that's left is the matte and frame, which I happen to think are very lovely and the only redeeming quality about the original art work.

My materials. The R and J I used for another wall art project (separate post coming soon).

I ended up selecting the French collage paper you see in the top left corner as my background.

Crafting is fun but can get messy. It's all part of the creative process.

Here, I've got everything laid out and ready to glue down using Mod Podge. The letter "B" (for our last name) still needs to be painted and decorated with paper. In a separate post, I'll give a step-by-step tutorial on what how I accomplished that. Oh, I should mention that I used E6000 to attach the letter B and I re-attached the cardboard to the back for support using packing tape.

And this is the finished project below! I'm very pleased with how it turned out. It was one of those projects that I didn't have a clear vision for so I kind of made things up as I went along. Thank goodness I love the results.

I really want to show you how it looks now in its surroundings but I did another art project the same day for the wall space on the right side of the mirror that I want to share in a separate post. So I'll do the big reveal then.

To see the finished art piece close-up and in greater detail, please click here.

Here's the list of things I added to further embellish the already collage-looking background paper:

• the pink rose near the word "France" 
• the little flying bird in the top right near the Eiffel Tower
• the "love" scrabble letters
• the bicycle
• binoculars
• a little "thinking of you" note
• a dimensional black number 4 circle sticker (for the number of people in our family)
• and look at the sweet little robin's nest I found at The Graphics Fairy

Thanks for checking out my latest project. Don't forget to come back and see the wall art project I did for the wall space on the other side of the mirror. BTW, check out my comments section to see how little $$$ I spent on this project. I'm pretty sure you'll want to start looking around your own home for something to rip apart and reinvent.


Sharing at. . .

• Brag Monday at The Graphics Fairy
• Make it for Monday at Cottage Instincts
• Get Your Craft on Tuesday at Today's Creative Blog
• Tip Me Tuesday at Tip Junkie
• Anything Related Tuesday at All Thingz Related
• Tutorial Tuesday at Hope Studios
• Transformation Thursdays at The Shabby Chic Cottage
• Debbiedoo's Magazine Copy Cat Challenge 
• Everything But the Kitchen Sink Thursday at A Little Knick Knack
• Frugal Friday at The Shabby Nest
• Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home
• It's a Hodgepodge Friday at It's a Hodgepodge Life
• Saturday is Crafty Day at Along for the Ride
• Marvelously Messy

Get your weekend shopping done with these great deals!

Hi Nesters!

Here are some great deals I found for you on home decor, makeup and skin care. Just click on the links to go shopping. Each promotion has its own end date so don't wait too long or you could miss out.

Click here to get 15% Off all Bedding at BurkeDecor.com. Use Coupon code "BEDDING15".

Click here to get your Free Gift for On the Glow with any Clarisonic skin cleansing system, including travel size! Engraving & Free Shipping too!

Click here to get your FREE 4-pc bareMinerals gift set with any $40 purchase - While Supplies Last

Glass cloche bird's nest project & tutorial

Hi Nesters!

This isn't an original idea but being a lover of nature (especially birds) it's something I've wanted to do for a while now. Glass cloches can be very expensive so I decided to make my own.

I found a small (about 6" tall) hurricane candle holder at Home Goods on clearance ($3.00).

I had a bunch of vintage-looking glass knobs ($0.00) left over from a shabby chic dresser project I did years ago (I'll show you that project in a future post). I used some E6000 adhesive to affix the knob to the bottom (which is now the top of the cloche) of the hurricane lamp.

I purchased a tiny faux bird's nest ($1.99) and a packet of faux eggs ($1.99) from the craft store. The nest was a little big to fit under the cloche so I trimmed away some of the outer twigs.

I printed up a bird graphic from The Graphics Fairy, one of my new favorite blogs (and she even lets you print them out for FREE!), and inserted it under the cloche behind the bird's nest. I got the idea from The Graphics Fairy as well.

I had hoped to use a robin bird graphic but couldn't find one in a horizontal composition. I printed this one out but it didn't work under the cloche since the egg in the photo got hidden by the nest. But it was so pretty I couldn't throw it away. I ended up sticking it in a scrolly iron wall art I have hanging above my desk, which happens to be on an adjoining wall just to right of my fireplace.

The finished project. It's so sweet. I'm thrilled with how it turned out. . .and all for under $10!

Linking to: Thrifty Thursday at Tales from Bloggeritaville