image via Serendipity; Life Itself
Here’s to a “better” weekend! š
The Mondrineon–A DIY Neon Tote Bag
05.08.13Call it what you will: a modern update, a reinvention, a new spin on whatever….I can’t help but feel that my latest project is aĀ perversion of a classic. Maybe that’s my artsy-fartsy education speaking.
But even if it makes Piet Mondrian himself shudder, I love the way this DIY neon tote bag came out!
And perhaps he wouldn’t be too upset—he was the ultimate color-blocker in his later works, after all.
This is a super simple project and will make you the Queen (or King) of your local farmer’s market. I had such a blast making it that I’m having to restrain myself from buying more totes to Mondrineonize. (Please make this project and then start using that word so I can end up in the dictionary. It’s my life-long dream as of just now).
What you need:
- blank canvas tote
- neon fabric paint (I could only find spray paint, so I poured out small amounts to brush on)
- foam brushes
- black fabric paint or fabric marker
- painter’s tape
- cardboard to insert in the tote so the paint doesn’t bleed through
- a reference image
What you do:
Easy peasy. Stick cardboard inside the bag, tape up your lines, paint one coat of each neon color and allow it to dry completely, paint a second coat and allow it to dry completely, remove the tape, use the black marker to draw in all the lines, and voila! The most important thing is really just to check the instructions on the fabric paint and markers that you use (some paints need to be ironed to set).
Hope you have fun making these! Here’s some more pictures to convince you it’s worthwhile.
My restraint just gave out. I’m off to buy more totes.
Make It Friday: Nice Rack
05.03.13
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Nothing makes me giggle as much as a good innuendo, so I am all for any home decor trends that pack a whopping triple entendre potential. What hostess wouldn’t want to hear her guests proclaim, “Nice rack!” All thanks to these great DIY antler shed projects.
Now off to the woods to find some antler sheds of my own so I can make this scenario happen.
Here’s to a weekend of good projects and better jokes!
The Hardware Store — A Love Story
05.02.13
In case you haven’t figured it out yet, I’m THAT girl. The one who goes into the hardware store at least once a week with a half-baked DIY idea, no vocabulary for the tools I need, and detailed questions communicated primarily through hand gestures and crude drawings on the backs of receipts fished out of my purse.
I drool over the tools. I ogle the work goggles. I faint when I see the paint. Literally every quick dash into any hardware store for just a [insert small useful item here] turns into an hour-long perusal of all the cool copper plumbing thingies and the circular saws and some neat grates that I don’t know what they are butĀ surely if I buy one I’ll find a way to use it.
IĀ love the hardware store. I love the hardware store so much that a 20-something male employee recently mistook my enthusiasm for flirting and gave me his number.
(I, in turn, mistook the number and accompanying comment of “We could talk about this idea over coffee sometime,” for a genuine interest in how to rig up a retractable laundry line for under twenty dollars, replied “That sounds great!” thinking I had just scored a knowledgeable DIY friend, and got all the way out of the store before I realized what had just happened. Apparently my social skills are even less developed than my DIY ones.)
But I gotta say, guys, there’s nothing like an involved project to make me love the hardware store just a little bit less. Too many trips and too many dollars spent, and not very much to show for it just yet. Here’s waiting for the light at the end of the tunnel.
What great fiascos have you been through at the hardware store?
Make It Friday: All the Neon
04.26.13
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Spring fever is in full force in our household, and for me that means COLOR! I’m laboring under the theory that some bright, summery neons will chase away what’s left of the chill New England weather. And if that doesn’t work, at least I’ll have some pretty things to look at while my teeth are chattering.
Here’s to warm and colorful days ahead!
P.S. I PROMISE I’m working on some projects of my own to show you all! It was hard to do “normal” things the past two weeks, but I’m ready to dive back in to some great DIYs and will be sharing them with you soon!