Category Archives: Home Decor

Sun/Star/Whateverburst Mirror

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All righty there folks, I just had to jump on the bandwagon.  I’m not sure if they’re called STARburst or SUNburst or whateverburst mirrors, but I love them and I’m not afraid to say it.

And, yes, they’re all over pinterest (here and here) and numerous other crafting sites and blogs, so maaybe you’re tired of seeing or hearing about them.  But I’m not.  In fact, all of that spotlight has made my need for one intensify.

And, anyways, the reason they’re all over those sites is they’re RIDICULOUSLY simple to make.  And take all of one hour to make (plus another for some spray paint drying time).

And this is all to say that I made a sun/star/whateverburst mirror and it’s on my wall and I love it and I want to share my great fortune with the interweb.

Here are the steps!

1.  You will need to procure materials.  They are:

  • a round wooden blank of some kind (I have no idea what it’s called, I found it at Michael’s Crafts in the wood working aisle.  It was about three bucks? I think?)
  • a round mirror that fits onto that wooden blank (Check the framing section.  Fortuitously, these two items fit each other perfectly and the mirror was also a mere few dollars.)
  • a bunch of kabob sticks (these came from my mother’s kitchen)
  • a hot glue gun (crafter’s delight… never leave home without) 
  • some means for hanging this mirror on the wall (you will see that I used rope, glue, and a nail)
  • I also used a metal cutting tool for cutting my kabob sticks, but this was kind of overkill.  You could probably use regular scissors too.

2.  I used a ruler to draw pizza slices on the back of my wooden blank.  That’s how I thought about it, not as math, but as pizza because I love to eat food and I don’t really like math problems.  I will admit this.
I used these lines to figure out that I needed 32 kabob sticks.

3.  I also drew a little box surrounding the middle point to leave room for a hanging apparatus as well as standardize the lengths of each stick.  I didn’t want to accidentally glue some closer or farther from the edge.  (Scroll down to see what this looks like)

4.  I left half of the sticks long, and cut half by about two inches to create a varied pattern.

5.  Then I began to glue.  First the long sticks:

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6.  And then the shorter ones:

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This is what it looked like when I had glued all of the long sticks:

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And then here it is with the shorter ones glued on as well:

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7.  And then the fun part, spraypaint-a-palooza (I used gold because I wanted it nice and gaudy):

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8.  Then, not pictured because it would be boring, I waited for the paint to dry.  This took about an hour.

9.  Then, not pictured because I forgot, I glue-gunned the mirror onto the sun/star/whateverburst.  Thus turning this whole shebang into a sun/star/whateverburst mirror.

10.  Finally, because I had rope and no picture hanger, I glue gunned a piece of rope onto the back of the mirror.

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11.  I then nailed a hole into the wall and hung the mirror (after it was allllll dry of course) onto my no-longer-quite-as-bare wall.

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TADA!

So, there you go. I jumped on the bandwagon and I am oh so happy that I did.  I love the simplicity and the way it totally doesn’t look like it’s made of glue gunned kabob sticks and rope.  Also, I love that it’s gold.

I may have followed the trend, but I’ve got no regrets, baby, just joyous gaudy sun/star/lovelybursts hanging on my wall!

Paint-by-Numbers Art DIY

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So how do you turn a creepy paint-by-numbers cat painting into something wall worthy?  A few months ago I saw this project by A Beautiful Mess (oh by the way I love this blog and have done a few projects inspired by theirs)  and have kept it in the back of my mind. So when I was at Michael’s Craft Store on Sunday looking for projects with my friend, I just had to pick up this bizarre cat painting.

Well, first off, be aware that there’s no way that your own painting will EVER look like the masterpiece on the package.  Look how adorable the original piece is.  Now look how terrifying my work in progress is:

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Now cry, because you will have nightmares about that blank eye ghost cat stare.  Paint a little more and it’s still scary.

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But have no fear, because creepycat is going to be covered up by paint.  I used some vinyl letters from the craft store in Helvetica because although Comic Sans was on sale, it would have been a crime to put that on the wall.

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Like Essie over at A Beautiful Mess, I chose a song lyric.  It may look strange, but that says “mushaboom.”  If that means nothing to you, check out this song by Feist.  Fun fact: almost used this as a senior quote in my high school yearbook.  Second fun fact: the chorus is my alarm song, yet somehow I don’t completely hate it.

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(Nice picture, right?  Let’s be generous and call it “artistic”)

So anyways, stick on those vinyl letters nice and good and then cover the whole thing with several coats of paint.  I did 4.  Then carefully pull off the letters and you are left with a muuuch more wall-worthy piece of art than creepycat’s dead stare.  There’s a little bit of bleeding because the painting was pretty textured; however, it has that nice artistically marred quality about it.  And I can’t wait to get it into a frame and up on the wall.  Yep, it’s wall-worthy.

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love, ashley

Fruit Crate Decoration

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I figure that many people, like me, feel conflicted regarding the process of moving.  On the one hand it’s the opportunity for a fresh start, a time to cull through junk, a great excuse to redecorate.  On the other, there’s the overwhelming process of packing and unpacking, finding new places for all of your belongings, and losing things in odd places (only to find them again when you least expect them… try earrings alongside the tupperware or pay stubs with the nail polish).

I just moved into a new apartment and have been going through these exact thought processes on an almost daily basis.  Thankfully, getting through the bulk of the boxes was an endeavor executed in one fell swoop.  However, there are still those odd boxes full of miscellanea that are haunting me from the closet.  And no, I have not unpacked my shoes yet.  Still waiting to find a place for the junk formerly housed in my desk.

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Despite all of the frustrations, though, I have still been excited and occupied with decorating and decor.  Refining a new space is definitely my favorite part about moving (besides getting out of a waterlogged slum… but that’s another story for another day…).  I’ve been zealously perusing home DIY blogs and pinterest boards like it’s my new religion.  Unfortunately at this time of year (spring semester, senior year), home decor web searches are just so much more enticing than reading another essay by Nietzsche.  And let’s not even go into what Nietzsche would say about that…

But anyways, I wanted to share the first DIY project that le boyfriend and I created for the new apartment.  I can’t remember whose idea it was initially, but the idea of using fruit crates for decor just seemed so perfectly cute and cheery, with a half dose of kitsch, that we scoured Craigslist and ended up driving forty minutes away just to get our hands on some.

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Out of seven fruit crates, we created one nightstand, two speaker stands, and one mail holder.  The process was simple: screw two crates together, one on top of the other, to create a haphazardly stacked, though solid stand.  We used the small wooden dividers to create feet for the speaker stands so that they would be a little more sturdy.  For the nightstand, I wanted miniature shelves so I made do without little feet.  And finally, to call the mail holder a “creation” is a little erroneous because the process is simply this: use the box to hold your mail.  Nice, eh?

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