LJ Creative

Look! I can paint!

2009-03-18T08:59:00.000-07:00

I have never, ever been a painter before in my life! Give me charcoal, a pencil, pen, computer or camera and I'm a pro but when it comes to painting, whether acrylic, watercolor or anything else, my stuff always ends up looking like a 3 year old did it.

But, I wanted some color on my living room wall but I can't paint my walls. So I decided I wanted an original piece of artwork. I didn't want a poster that is mass produced or anything like that. And being a recent college graduate, I couldn't really afford to buy an original piece of work right now so I decided that I'd try my hand at painting again.

Above is the result and I'm extremely pleased with it! I had inspiration from multiple places and artists that I've come to love. It took me about 5 days to complete since I had to let the paint dry in between stages. These are three 16x20 canvases. Below is a close up of one of them. Enjoy!

Bottle Cap Earrings

2009-03-17T17:17:00.000-07:00

I discovered some sellers who had made earrings out of bottle caps on Etsy and they looked easy enough so I thought I'd give it a try! Here's the result...I think they're cute and totally fun and unique to wear when I go out.

The earring wires are nickel free since I have a major allergy to nickel. I just put a hole through the bottle cap with a nail and then used some jump rings to hook it to the wires. Just don't fall asleep in these...I image it would hurt!

Boring desk chair no more!

2009-03-08T19:57:00.000-07:00

I had a simple black desk chair that I bought when I was in college but was sick of it being so boring. I popped the seat and the back off from the frame and covered them with fabric. I love the fabric! It was really simple and brings some color to my office. This picture shows it in my room since I use it at my vanity too since I haven't found the perfect antique chair yet to refurbish for that.

Blank Walls Stink!

2009-03-04T18:20:00.000-08:00

Since I live in an apartment, I can't paint. Let me tell you how much white walls drive me crazy! I love color and I can't wait to own my own home so I can splash every wall with color. But in the meantime, I just have to make removable color.

I need a focal point above my bed and I am really no good at painting and I really can't afford to buy art pieces. So, I made a trip to Michael's to get a canvas, paint, and a stamp.

The colors in my bedroom are chocolate brown, icy blue, and gold. I created this monogram just so everyone who enters knows that this is my bed! My bed is absolutely the most comfortable thing in the world, by the way! It's so hard to get out of it in the morning because it's so comfy!

On the other wall, I cut out silhouettes of Marie Antoinette, Charlotte Bronte, and Jane Austen. I just used scrapbook paper that coordinated with my bedroom colors. The frames were $1 each at the dollar store and I painted them gold.

Fun with Spray Paint and Ginkgo Leaves

2009-03-04T18:08:00.000-08:00

In October, my mom bought her first house! It's a great little 3-bedroom townhouse in Johnston. She asked me to help her decorate it and pick out her paint colors which I absolutely love to do! Anyways, she really loves ginkgo leaves and asked me to do a painting as a focal point in her living room. She collect the leaves and we picked out the spray paint colors together.

My little sister, Jazz, and I finally got time to complete the painting and it turned out great. My mom loves it. We just taped the leaves down scattered across the canvas and sprayed a layer of black paint. We then moved the leaves to new positions and sprayed with a green and repeated this step with a darker green and finally silver.

The first photo is a full view of the painting and the second is a close-up so you can see the leaf shapes.

Ugly Chair to Fabulous Chair

2009-02-26T18:56:00.000-08:00

Welcome to my blog! I hope you enjoy my creations that I will be sharing with you in the future! I've been slowly decorating my first apartment with tons of DIY projects. Here's one that I finished tonight and I'm extremely excited to share!

I bought this rocking chair at a garage sale last summer for $3. I needed cheap furniture to furnish my first apartment. Unfortunately, I've been too busy decorating the rest of my apartment to get to it, so finally after 8 months of the ugliness sitting in the corner of my living room, I did something about it!

I painted the wood frame red to go with the red and black theme of my living room and dining room. I picked a neutral-colored fabric to match my couch.

So, here are the final results and I am super pleased with them. Pretty good for my first reupholstery project if I don't say so myself!

Before

After