Decoupaged Mirror Frame (Ikea Malma)

Posted on April 14, 2013 by jewelsathome

These wide-frame mirrors from Ikea have so many possibilities! You could hang them as they are, of course, but what fun to decorate them with a tile mosaic, paint, or paper!

In setting a theme for our tween boy’s new room, I found this fun and colorful Heroes and Villains wrapping paper. I’m using it for some DIY pencil tins and also covered some Ikea Malma mirror frames for his wall.

This is an easy project. You’ll need a mirror, wrapping paper, Mod Podge, and a brush. I started by using painter’s tape (okay, I guess you’ll need that, too) to cover up the mirror in the center, so it wouldn’t get glue on it. (pictured below, left). I then spread a layer of Mod Podge over the mirror frame and carefully lay the paper on top, lining it up and smoothing out the wrinkles. (pictured below, right)

Decorating an Ikea Malma mirror frame. Decoupage with wrapping paper. {Jewels at Home}

Cover the mirror with painter’s tape (left). Spread Mod Podge over the frame and lay the wrapping paper on top (right).

To fit the paper around the mirror, I cut an “X” shape and then trimmed the paper with a craft knife (oh yes, you need that, too!). (pictured below, left) To wrap the paper around the edge of the frame, I cut squares out from the corners and then applied more Mod Podge and wrapped the paper around, smoothing out the wrinkles and bubbles. (pictured below, right)

Cut an “X” in the center and trim the paper with a craft knife (left). Cut squares out of the corners and apply the paper around the frame with the Mod Podge (right).

I finished off the mirror with a few coats of Mod Podge to seal the paper and give it a glossy finish. I hung the mirrors with my favorite Command Picture-Hanging Strips.

Here’s how the finished mirror looks:

And below are some pictures of the entire wall. Also featured on this wall are

DIY oversized wall initial
DIY art gallery clip frames, great for quickly rotating art and photos
Vintage Comic Calendar. They have several years of these beautiful calendars with different covers.

This sweet tween’s room is almost ready. His desk is on order, and I look forward to showing you the completed space, soon!

“Jewels”

Living Room Tour

Posted on March 26, 2013 by jewelsathome

After some peeks into the small spaces in our house – the powder room, the nursery, the laundry, the master bath – I’m glad I can show you our living room. It’s actually only one half of the original living room – we are using the other half of this enormous room as our dining room, and we turned the separate dining room into a family room.

I am not sure quite how to describe the style – it’s a little bit contemporary but classic. It has Chinese elements, but more of a Regency Chinoiserie feel than traditional Chinese. Is this the Asian fusion of the decorating world? Anyway, I love the cool soothing blues and grays warmed up with some green. It satisfies my desire for a grown-up space but is still a very comfortable spot to hang out.

Not much more explanation needed, so I’ll get to the pictures. I’ve included links to the many DIY projects in this room.

A view of the living room side of our living-dining room, from the foyer.

The bamboo brush paintings are by my mom. I sewed the living room pillows and repainted the vintage marble-top coffee table.

This picture was from the Holiday House Tour:

I love this elegant old Chinese chair that I picked up at the flea market. It’s sitting by the window, next to a craigslist-find chest that I painted in teal.

Here’s another sunny view of our living room. I love that it has so many windows.

Living room tour. Classic contemporary space with Asian elements. {Jewels at Home}

To the left of the piano is an antique wooden window screen that I painted, and on top is a repurposed shoe box, decorated with paper.

These nesting tables are from a consignment store, and the silver box is a rummage sale find that I painted in silver.

This vignette on top of a bookshelf includes some art from a favorite calendar, an antique Korean vase given to us by Steve’s parents, and a little Japanese dish I picked up years ago while shopping with my mom and sister.

The bookshelf on the other side of the window has a similarly sentimental display – art from a calendar and from an old friend, a small blue and white Chinese vase from my grandmother’s house, and some candle sticks I found in thrift store.

Thanks for visiting!

“Jewels”

DIY Paper Art – Heart and Butterfly Silhouettes

Posted on March 21, 2013 by jewelsathome

Just every once in a while, I plan a project, and then I actually do it! Yes, really! I recently collected some fun ideas for art projects involving paper, and now I’m excited to unveil my own paper creations.

I have a great weakness for pretty prints on paper and fabric, and these easy projects were a great way to display them and create inspiration in my craft studio.

Art Hearts

I was feeling girly when I collected these pink and red papers – a mix of scrapbook paper, origami paper, scraps from card, and even some paper I made myself! (second row, center) – and cut out rows of matching hearts. Very easy – I made a heart template out of scrap paper and then traced and cut out this collection. I glued them onto a plain background and popped them into this frame I already had. I had also thought of folding the hearts and making them three dimensional, but I’m happy with how this turned out.

Butterfly Collection

No butterflies were harmed in the production of this pretty display piece. While I have fallen in love with pink and red only recently (some kind of reaction to having three boys), I’ve long had a love for the color blue – in fact, my dad still talks about how much I love blue (do your parents also remember you exactly as you were twenty years ago?).

Anyway, unlike all the identical hearts, I wanted to make each butterfly unique. Again, I love the mix of papers many of which have stories behind them – an old stationery set, some wrapping paper, and more paper that I hand made (second row, left). These are mixed with some more scrapbook and origami papers for a soothing and pretty work of art.

And now, there is finally something to adorn the blank wall in my “studio.” Along with my new paper art, I framed a section of the hydrangea wrapping paper that I used for my desk accessories and added some botanical prints from a calendar.

I love how putting something up on the walls makes a space feel like home!

“Jewels”

Ninjago Party – Part 2: Activities

Posted on March 12, 2013 by jewelsathome

This past weekend, we put together a fun Ninjago-themed party for our seven year old’s birthday. I already posted pictures and ideas for the decorations, food, and party favors, and here are some details on the activities that kept our army of Lego ninjas busy!

Sword fighting against Ninjago enemies

I bought these foam swords at Hallowe’en for L’s ninja costume. They come as a mixed set of pirate and knight/ ninja swords. The pirate ones could easily be altered to look like the ninja swords by trimming the handles, but my kids didn’t seem to be particular about it. Our kids have played with the swords quite a lot in the past few months, and I’ve been impressed by how durable the they are and also how it seems pretty much impossible to hurt someone or break something with them (and I’m sure our good fortune will end with that statement…). Despite the fact that no physical harm has ever been inflicted, the swords have been the cause of some arguments and whining, neither of which I felt were suitable for a party, so I decided to direct the boys’ energy toward targets other than each other.

Luckily, I had just been to Ikea to pick up a couple of things, so I had two large cardboard boxes to turn into training dummies for the party. The Skulkin skeletons and the Serpentine are the main enemies of the Ninjago (I learned a lot to put together this party!), so I made one of each out of plain newsprint and glued them onto the boxes, adding some embellishment with markers. They’re each about five feet tall!

Sword fighting targets for a Ninjago birthday party activity. Many more ideas from Jewels at Home.

Skulkin and Serpentine sword fighting targets for a Ninjago birthday party activity.

We set up the targets outside and let the kids take turns trying to knock them down. We quickly learned that we needed to draw a chalk line to delineate a “safe zone” for the kids waiting their turn, after the birthday boy got whacked by his older brother, who was aiming for General Skales. No harm done, but as I said, some – thankfully brief – tears and argument.

This activity was really beloved by our Ninjago guests. In retrospect, their war cries should probably have been saved for later in the party, as we may have woken some of our neighbors, but it was all in good fun.

Stick the ninja star on the Ninjago

For this activity, I made a bunch of these origami ninja stars and put 3M clear mounting squares on the back.

Origami ninja stars. Ninjago birthday party activity and party favors. {Jewels at Home}

Origami ninja stars for Ninjago birthday party activity and party favors.

I made a giant poster of Ninjago Lloyd ZX. It was very easy to print this image across multiple pages using a downloadable program called Poster Razor, and then I taped the pages together and and placed the outline of a ninja star in Lloyd’s hand. I laminated the front of the poster with clear contact paper, so the ninja stars could stick without damaging the poster.

Stick the ninja star on Ninjago Lloyd.

Not all the kids wanted to play this game, but those who did played over and over! We had to experiment with a few blindfolds and locations for the poster, as we had some very sneaky ninjas!

Each Ninjago guest got to take one of these little stars home, too.

Ninjago Skeleton Bowling

Lego actually makes a Skeleton Bowling set, so I took this idea and decided to make a life-sized version.

I was able to borrow this Little Tikes Totsports Bowling Set from our neighbor. I then printed two Ninjago skeletons side by side across regular sheets of paper and wrapped and taped the paper around the bowling pins.

DIY life-sized Ninjago skeleton bowling game.

I have to admit that the bowling game did not get a lot of attention at the party, although I suppose I can understand that the opportunity to whack things with swords was a bit distracting. Our toddler did have a lot of fun playing bowling the next day, though, as you can see. I think the kid has a future in pro bowling.

Finally, let’s not forget the Lego itself! While we may grumble about how commercialized it has become since our childhood, I still think Lego is one of the best toys. Our kids can be occupied for hours making their own creations. Not surprisingly, the boys spent a lot of the party just hanging out with this classic toy. Looking for Lego sets for your kids or gifts? I have found great Ninjago and other Lego toys at big discounts on Zulily.com!

Lego Ninjago birthday party.

Well that’s the round-up of activities and fun at our Lego Ninjago birthday party. Don’t forget to check out the previous post for details on the decorations, food, and party favors.

“Jewels”

Pancake Mixes in a Jar

Posted on January 7, 2013 by jewelsathome

I made these pancake mixes in a jar to give as Christmas gifts, but they would be great for birthdays, hostess gifts, or just-because. The hot chocolate mixes I made were very popular, but these pancakes are also a great option and come with a bit less sugar guilt.

I made three variations: banana, banana chocolate chip, and blueberry pancakes. I used pasta sauce jars, which hold about 2 1/2 cups. The baking powder does lose effectiveness over time – they are best used within three months – so it’s best not to make these far ahead.

Ingredients:

Layer in a jar

1/2 cup of whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon sugar
Optional: 1/3 cup of freeze-dried bananas (not banana chips which are too crunchy), freeze-dried blueberries (not regular dried blueberries which are too hard and chewy), and/or chocolate chips.

It helped to use a clean sheet of cardstock folded into a funnel for getting the ingredients neatly into the jars:

Provide the following instructions with your jar. I printed labels and stuck them to decorative paper and tied it all on with a colorful ribbon.

Instructions:

Shake the jar to mix contents thoroughly
Mix contents of jar gently with 2 beaten eggs beaten, 2 cups milk, 4 tablespoons oil
Cook in a hot greased pan

Here’s proof that a gift can look as good as it tastes!

These worked out so well for our Christmas gifts to teachers and neighbors – how will you use yours?

“Jewels”

Animal Silhouette Christmas Ornaments

Posted on December 3, 2012 by jewelsathome

Well, I could happily have gone on making trees, after these Christmas trees made with trims and the felt Christmas trees, but I’m exercising some restraint, such as it is, and switching over to making ornaments.

I’ve seen some whimsical animal silhouettes with pretty prints at One Kings Lane and Raredevice.net, and I thought I’d try a DIY version.

Deer silhouette Christmas ornament from Raredevice.net

Reindeer and bird silhouette Christmas ornaments seen at One Kings Lane.

If you’d like to buy something similar for a reasonable price, check out these pretty wood ornaments by Arks and Animals on Etsy.

Wooden animal silhouette ornaments from Arks and Animals on Etsy.

I’m quite tempted by the wood ones, but, I like the prints, so back to the DIY project… The ornament from Raredevice is wood with a printed design (no can do), but the One Kings Lane ornaments are cardboard and paper (can do!!). I tried this with both cardboard and craft foam as the centers. The cardboard cut more neatly than the foam, but in the end, I preferred the foam, because it gave the cut-outs a little dimension and substance. The cardboard ones ended up looking a bit more like gift tags than ornaments.

Materials:

assorted scrapbook, wrapping, and origami papers
craft foam (no longer just for kids!) in colors to match your papers or thin cardboard (like cereal boxes)
Images or templates to trace, such a cookie cutters, stencils, or printed images
craft knife and scissors – I used both large and small scissors as well as some pattern-edged scissors
small hole punch
string or ribbon for hanging

Instructions:

I used a glue stick to cover both sides of a piece of craft foam with decorative paper.
I found silhouettes I liked on the Internet and printed them out. A good size for these ornaments is about 3-4″.
I laid a silhouette over a section of foam and used the scissors and craft knife to cut through the foam and paper. I started with the large scissors to get the general shape and then used the small scissors and craft knife to neaten up the edges and the pattern-edged scissors for adding details, like the feathers on the birds’ wings. Because the foam is flexible, the paper did wrinkle a bit, but I tried to bend it as little as possible. The cardboard bent less, but as I said, I didn’t find the result as substantial.
I punched a hole in the top and threaded a ribbon… voila!

Make these sweet animal silhouette ornaments decorated with origami paper! {Jewels at Home}

Sweet animal silhouette ornaments decorated with origami paper! In case you are wondering, the reindeer in the top row was made with a cardboard center, and the rest have the foam center.

And here are the new ornaments on our Christmas tree. By the way, if you are in San Francisco, Lowe’s had trees for literally a third the price of the Christmas tree lots. The ambience was somewhat lacking, but it was worth it!

Moose silhouette ornament. O Canada!

Bunny silhouette ornament with instructions. {Jewels at Home}

Bunny silhouette ornament. For my sister and little nieces, who were all born in the year of the rabbit!

Make a little blue bird silhouette ornament for the tree. {Jewels at Home}

A little blue bird silhouette ornament for our tree.

These ornaments turned out very sweet and were fairly fast to make. They might show up as gifts this season! I also found some homemade ornaments from years past that I’ll post soon.

“Jewels”

I shared this project at:

Centsational Girl’s holiday Link Party

Kids’ Art Gallery Frames

Posted on November 15, 2012 by jewelsathome

My kids’ art projects tend to accumulate in (not so) little plies all over our house. I’m implementing a new system to organize all of it, but more on that later. I would love to have more of their creations up on display, but I get around to it so seldom that the few pieces that are hung are completely outdated. I’ve been looking for a solution that makes it easy to change our our display, and I knew I had found it when I spied these frames with clips from Shanty 2 Chic.

I decided to make mine with fabric, rather than paper, backgrounds. The fabric matches these DIY picture mattes I made. I’ll show you how to make your own!

Materials:

frames – I used NYTTJA frames from Ikea, which are perfect, because the front is plastic that has a protective film on it for packaging. I left the film on, so that if I ever want to use these are regular frames, it will be easy to peel off the fabric.
fabric or decorative paper
magnetic bulldog clips

Instructions:

Take apart your frame and spray the glass (or in this case the plastic) with spray adhesive. I think you could also use a glue stick, if you spread it thinly. (top left picture below)
Cut out a piece of fabric (or paper) about 1.5″ wider than your glass in all directions. Lay the glass, adhesive side down, on the back side of the fabric. Cut the corners diagonally, to reduce bulk. (top right picture below)
Fold over the fabric and tape it in place securely. (bottom left picture below)
Reassemble your frame. (bottom right picture below)

The last steps are to hot glue the bulldog clips in place and add your art! (pictured below)

Here is the kids’ new art gallery in their room. I can tell already that I will be using these frames a lot! Also pictured are the DIY travel-themed pencil tins I made for them.

Next up: I’m getting started on some projects for Christmas!

“Jewels”

DIY Fabric-covered Picture Mattes

Posted on November 12, 2012 by jewelsathome

Little details like art pieces are what bring personalty to a room and make it feel complete. Sometimes, it seems like I’m so busy battling piles of laundry and other basic necessities, that I will never get around to all these little details, but I’m always rewarded when I do! I finally put up the travel art for the boys’ room.

I decided to try making my own picture mattes by wrapping cardboard with fabric. You could do it with a large sheet of art or wrapping paper, too. One caveat is that cardboard can be acidic and could damage valuable art or photos, so this is not a project for your heirlooms. I turned the coated side of my cardboard towards the back, hoping that would protect the art a bit. This project turned out to be pretty easy, and I like how it looks. I’m also glad, because I have some other plans for this fabric in the room, and now it will all coordinate!

Materials:

light or medium weight cardboard, like cereal boxes or toy boxes. I think regular corrugated cardboard would be too thick and bumpy.
fabric or paper to cover your board
glue (glue stick and tacky or white glue) and scissors

Instructions:

Cut the cardboard to the size of your frame’s glass, and cut an inner shape to fit your art – you don’t have to do a simple rectangle or square; how about an oval? You also don’t have to center your opening; western-style mattes look great when the bottom area is slightly taller than the top, grounding your piece. Asian art is often centered with the top area slightly taller, representing the sky. (top left picture below)
Cut a piece of fabric about an inch wider than your cardboard in all directions. Use the glue stick lightly on the front to stick the cardboard onto the fabric. Instead of glue, you could also use Heat’n Bond Ultra Hold Iron-On Adhesive (top right picture below)
Fold the fabric around the cardboard, and use the white or tacky glue to hold it in place, clipping the corners. Do the outside first, and then the center. (bottom left picture below)
Ta-da! (bottom right picture below)

DIY fabric-covered picture mattes with tutorial. Jewels at Home.

Step-by-step tutorial for fabric-covered picture mattes.

Here are the art posters up on the wall in the big boys’ room.

And here are the newly framed pictures next to the DIY cardboard initials I made. This display wall is slowly coming together – I’ve got one more project planned!

Now, hopefully this motivation will carry over to my own bedroom gallery wall!

“Jewels”

Easy Customizable Birthday Banners

Posted on October 21, 2012 by jewelsathome

I often see beautiful birthday banners customized for a theme party. I love having something that matches the rest of the event and makes the birthday boy feel all the more like the day is made just for him. On the other hand, I don’t love the idea of something that can be used just once.

So, I’m very happy that I realized that you can adapt any banner to a theme… And then just as easily change it for the next party.

I can’t resist poking around the clearance shelves at Target and was excited to recently find a colorful birthday banner in red, yellow, and blue. The colors were perfect for our upcoming firefighter birthday, but the circus animals were not. But for just $1.54 (!!), I knew I couldn’t make anything like it myself, and it wouldn’t be a big project to cover up the circus animals with something new.

Here’s a picture of the original banner (top) and then the way it looks after I simply added yellow cardstock and a picture of a fire truck (bottom). I used painter’s tape to attach the new decorations, so they can be removed easily without damaging the banner underneath.

You can easily change the theme of a party banner to reuse it! Why didn’t I think of this before?

Firefighter birthday party decorations. So easy to reuse this banner by changing from a circus theme to a firefighter theme.

Once I changed the new banner, I got the idea to update another one I’ve has for years. It’s a very simple design that would go with anything. The original banner had stars between the letters didn’t have a lot of space for customization, so I decided to make extra pennants to add on the ends. I just cut triangles out of blue cardstock to match the rest of the banner and glued smaller triangles of a patterned paper. I covered the triangles with clear contact paper, so that things could be taped on the surface and then removed. I punched two holes in the top of the pennant and used a simple brad (an office supply “brass fastener”) to join it to the existing pennant.

Making pennants for a birthday banner. Cover the paper with clear contact paper, so decorations can be switched out according to the party’s theme.

Add extra pennants to a ready-made banner, to give you more room for customizing your theme.

For baby J’s party, I added firetrucks again, but these can be taken off and switched to something new for our next party!

Customize a plain banner with removable decorations. This banner can be used over and over again!

A plain banner customized for a firefighter birthday using removable decorations. This banner can be used over and over again for different parties!

Yes, this is a simple idea, but it’s a great addition to our party repertoire that I can now re-use and customize at the same time!

I’ll put together the rest of the firefighter party pictures to post soon.

“Jewels”

Retro Travel Art and Accessories for Kids’ Rooms

Posted on October 12, 2012 by jewelsathome

Every time I walk into Lavish in Hayes Valley, I find a great piece of wrapping paper to use for a new project. At just $4 a sheet, these provide a lot of creative bang for the buck. First, there was the graphic red print I used to line J’s nursery bookcase. Next, I found a sweet hydrangea paper for my craft studio. Most recently, I was inspired by this retro air travel print from Cavallini & Co..

Retro air travel paper from Cavallini a& Co.

I didn’t originally plan a themed bedroom for our older boys, and I still want to keep it pretty neutral. The travel theme evolved first from these beautiful retro-style city posters by Karen Young of Loose Petals.

Retro-style city art prints by Karen Young of Loose Petals.

When I saw the wrapping paper, I knew it would tie in perfectly. I framed a section of paper as art – easy! – and then used more for DIY pencil tins and magnets for our DIY racing stripe magnet boards.