Tag Archives: Art

Urban Boutique Bathroom – Week Three – Spring 2025 One Room Challenge

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I’ll call this week to be the “telephone hold music” of the One Room Challenge – I am excited to share our new bathroom. I can take credit for the design, but not the construction. There’s also a small DIY project in there! In the meantime, I promise I am working away on other projects for decorating our new bedroom addition, including a custom daybed.

As a reminder, this season’s project is a bedroom and bathroom addition we built last year. It’s going to be a space for our oldest, when he’s home, and also serve as a guest room or lounge!

It’s fun to see how my vision for this room evolved. In the original “mood board,” I was going with my classic blue-and white look, but you could tell that I was already thinking about how to bring in some green.

Over time, while we were waiting and waiting for building permits, my plan evolved to be more modern and more green. One of my major inspiration spaces was the Woodlark Hotel in Portland, where we enjoyed a stay a few years ago. From that space (left picture below). I was inspired by the elongated subway tile, stacked vertically, the mix of white and dark green tile, and a mix of black metal and antique brass. This led to my final design (right picture below):

And here’s how the room turned out!

This tile combination makes me so happy!

While I left the bathroom construction to our contractor, I did add a DIY touch with the window glass film. There are so many options for window film, so you can have fun browsing for your own favorite. The one that spoke to me for our space is the gingko-themed stained glass from Asgerart on Etsy. It was easy to apply and adds style and much-needed privacy to our little bathroom! To fit our windows, I used two panels side-by-side.

Hope to show you more progress in the bedroom soon! In the meantime, you can see all the other fun room transformations on the One Room Challenge website!

Julie AKA “Jewels”

“If These Walls Could Talk” Gallery Wall – Week Two – Spring 2025 One Room Challenge

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I seriously love the One Room Challenge. It’s just the motivation I need to finish off projects. I’ve been puttering away preparing the gallery wall in our new bedroom, and with this week’s progress update launching, I got the energy to finish hanging everything after work today!

As a reminder, this room is bedroom addition we built last year. It’s going to be a room for our oldest, when he’s home, and also serve as a guest room or lounge! It’s a petite space, but I had big plans for this wall, and I really feel like it opens up the room!

If you are looking for tips for your own gallery wall, here are some ideas to consider:

  • let an overall impression guide you – my inspiration spaces contained art that felt light, with large white mats or lots of negative space.
  • Consider a theme – I chose items that represent the outdoors, wanting to make this narrow space feel more open
  • choose items with meaning -these walls can talk, because every item here has a story behind it!
  • for a collected look, mix multiple types of art, such as paintings, photographs, prints, and three-dimensional objects
  • DIY items, such as a fabric-covered picture mat or your own photographs
  • Use paper cutouts of your items to help you design the layout

Here’s a before-and-after look at the space:

This collection includes a DIY fabric-covered picture mat and a photo I took of Finn and printed at the local drugstore.

As I said, these walls can talk! Clockwise from left, a photograph taken from Fort Point, under the Golden Gate Bridge, that Steve and I bought at an art fair ~25+ years ago; an LED sign with my son’s name that my sister sent from Hong Kong; a small canvas print of a photo I took, featuring spring blossoms and Victorian houses; photo of Finn I took and printed; nasturtium print by Henry Evans calendar under a DIY fabric mat. My friend Penny gifts me a Henry Evans calendar every Christmas!

More treasures: paper silhouette cut-out from the Canadian National Exhibition when I was a child; strawberry ceramic bowl I bought at an art fair with a friend ~25 years ago; Vassar College pennant for my oldest; 1924 newspaper found in the walls of our last house; replica Group of Seven Canadian landscape painting my parents got on an Air Canada flight ~30 years ago; fern print from another Henry Evans calendar.

Last of the treasures: a beautiful branch painting by my mom ❤

I’m working away on some other projects that I hope to share with you soon! In the meantime, you can see all the other fun room transformations on the One Room Challenge website!

Julie AKA “Jewels”

Your Home is Your Canvas – Inspirations for Custom Art

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I want each item in my home to be meaningful, and custom canvas art is a wonderful way to personalize a space. I’m sharing four custom canvas ideas that I’ve used in my home. This includes several original projects as … Continue reading →

DIY Citrus Collage Canvases – When Life Gives you Lemons

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San Francisco’s fog is not the best climate for gardening, but my little lemon tree is getting established, and I wanted to create something citrus-inspired! I had some old canvases lying around (let’s just say that for me, paint-with-wine events are more about the experience than the product!), so I decided to transform them into something new!

Here’s what you’ll need:

  • Stretched canvases
  • Paint in background color
  • Craft paper in a variety of oranges, yellows, pinks, light greens, and dark greens
  • Mod-Podge

Here’s how to do it:

Paint the canvases in your background color:

ezy watermark_05-07-2019_06-19-21pm

Cut out your shapes:

  • pink blossoms
  • yellow lemons
  • light green limes
  • orange oranges (duh!)
  • green stems and leaves (I started with straight stems, but I recommend adding some curved ones as well)

ezy-watermark_05-07-2019_06-20-01pm.jpg

Start arranging your citrus into branches:ezy watermark_05-07-2019_06-20-42pm

For ideas on how to arrange your shapes, you can look at these inspiration images I found, as well as my finished product.

I am thinking of eventually putting these canvases in my office at work, but for now, I like the feeling of going to sleep in a garden here!

Julie aka “Jewels”

Dyeing to DIY… Shibori!

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I love the look of shibori – which is hardly surprising, since I love all things blue and white, and fabric. I finally overcame my skittishness about dye and tried this technique… now, I am 100% addicted! I’ve got lots … Continue reading →

Father’s Day Portrait Gifts

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It’s so fun to get the boys involved in a creative project for Father’s Day. Remember when we made the mugs and aprons? Or even these simple cards?

This year, the boys and I created these portraits for Steve and their grandfathers. You know by now that I have an endless supply of scrapbook paper, which I used to create the letters. The boys were really good sports (they aren’t always!) with taking the pictures, and I love the final products.

I printed individual pictures and put them in a frame with three openings and a matte that the boys signed.

And you couldn’t take pictures of three boys and a rascally pup without some outtakes!

Wishing the best to all the hard-working and loving fathers out there!

“Jewels”

 

“I Love You” Collage

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Here’s a fun DIY art project that you can customize so many ways. I added names to ours.

And for my sister-in-law’s wedding, I put the bride and groom and their wedding date:

You can get creative and use not just letters but pictures of objects or patterns. Can you spot the keys I used for the letter “I” or the clock for the letter “o”? Depending on the space, I switched up the wording. Variations include:

  • I love you
  • Love you
  • Love
  • I love u
  • etc.

What other ways would you customize this?

“Jewels”

Kids’ Upcycled Easter Garland

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We had a great time celebrating Easter with my sister’s family last year. I had wanted to make a garland with the kids, and a stack of drawings was the perfect starting point! Why leave all those creations hidden in a pile when we could hang them up to enjoy?

Kids' Upcycled Easter Garland | Jewels at Home

I made two templates out of cardboard: an egg and a bunny face. With older kids, you could add more shapes, but our three- and four- year olds barely managed with the egg, so this was perfect for us.

J and his cousins chose drawings and created some new ones. We traced the shapes and then cut them out. I made two small vertical slits at the top of each egg or bunny, and we threaded some ribbon through.

It was great to see these preschoolers practicing their fine motor skills and helping each other to put together our Easter decorations.

Kids' Upcycled Easter Garland | Jewels at Home  Kids' Upcycled Easter Garland | Jewels at Home

Hoppy Easter!

“Jewels”

Ideas for Handmade Romantic Gifts

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So, it was just Valentine’s Day and we’re going to Steve’s sister’s wedding in a few weeks, so I’ve been busy searching for the perfect romantic gifts with a handmade touch.

Here are my favorite ideas. I’ve tried some of them and can’t wait to try the rest!

1. Printed pillowcases

pillowcases

I love this and all the other whimsical designs from ZCreate on Etsy, and how perfect that this business is run by a couple!
2. “I love you” collage

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I made this collage for our family a few years ago. It took a lot of time and work, but it’s not technically difficult, and it’s almost free! You could customize this with a wedding date or other details.
3. A year of dates
This is what I actually ended up giving Steve for Valentine’s. One activity for each month, some at home and some out on the town, including some local adventures I have been waiting to try!

4. Personalized wine or bar glasses


I love these vintage monogrammed glasses I found for our Mad Men party a few years ago. You could also make your own with Glass Etching Cream.

5. Personalized wine labels

winelabels

What a fun way to personalize a gift of wine, with these milestone labels available from Label the Occasion and other sellers on Etsy. Or design your own and print on blank labels.

7. Message written with paper mosaic


I used Chinese characters (love, double happiness, and family), but you could do this with an English phrase, too. I printed out the template in reverse, glued one inch squares onto the back side of the paper, then cut out the template and glued it on a background.

8. String art heart

string art heart

You can buy this from Etsy or make your own with some wood, nails, and red embroidery floss. I’ve been wanting to try this for a while!

9. Personalized luggage tags

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I made these luggage tags and other art projects out of wedding invitations. I found the self-laminating tags here.

10. Framed wedding invitation art

IMG_6194
You could also do this with a birth announcement. It’s  special way to preserve your friends’ favorite images.

 

Hope you’re in the mood to create something special for the ones you love!

“Jewels”