Hoop Art Five Ways

For several months, I've been collecting embroidery hoops from thrift stores and any other place I can find a cheap deal on them. I wasn't sure exactly how or where I wanted to use them until I finished my girls' shared room and was looking for art for their walls. That's when I got them all out again and put my creative juices to work. It took me a few days of laying them out on my floor in different arrangements and digging through just the right prints of fabric to get a look that I liked and my girls liked.

After all the rearranging and trial and error, I came up with five ways to make art with hoops. I love how ours turned out so I wanted to share them with you! Maybe these will inspire you to do the same or spark some other creative ideas for your own hoop art.

1. Use fun, coordinating fabric prints in your hoops. I used a few different ones (polka dots, dolls, muslin, etc.) here that went along with my girls' room. It's easy and cheap and you can just do that with all of your hoops if you want. But if you want more variety, keep reading.

2. Add in a couple of hoops with muslin and embroider your favorite saying or quote (or a name, monogram, etc.) with your favorite color of thread. Since this is a shared room, I wanted to include something about sisters.

3. Cover the outer edge of your hoop with washi tape for a little pop of color and pattern. I bought the off brand and it didn't stick too well, so I mod podged it for a little extra hold. I used a red chevron patterned tape and I love it!

4. Put a fun fabric print in the hoop and then use felt to make people or animals that you love. Either sew them on or hot glue them like I did. I also added the names of my girls above the item to make it personal.

5. And, last, but not least - my favorite one! Think outside the box and hand stitch a picture on your muslin and use other methods such as different fabrics/threads to make a picture. I love this London double decker bus and the 'street' made from coordinating fabrics. I want to make more of these!

I hope these inspire you to make some of your own! I love how they turned out and plan on making a couple more to add to this wall. You can use as many or as little as you want and hang them in any way you want. The sky's the limit - or maybe the ceiling - but let's not get technical. :)

Monogram Wreath Makeover {Summer Edition}

A few years ago, I made a monogram wreath. I LOVE monograms and have them in several places in our house. They are timeless and I think they'll always be in style in some form or fashion.

You can view the tutorial for the monogram wreath here. As the seasons have passed and my tastes have changed, I have madeover the same monogram wreath just by changing out the floral stems, picks, and ribbon, etc. I love this wreath and haven't found one I like better for my front door so I keep using it over and over and over.

Here's what it looked like a couple days ago...

And now it looks like this...

This is one of my favorite versions I used last year...

With a better looking door, I was motivated to get out and scrub the porch clean and put new plants in my large porch planter, get new cushions for the chairs and add some hanging plants. I'm loving it! Now, all I need is a glass of iced tea and a good book.

I'm sharing this with these parties.

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Chevron Canvas {Tutorial}

It's no secret that one of my favorite patterns is chevron. It comes in so many colors and widths and variations and looks great on art, clothing, home decor, etc. I've used it on curtains, throw pillows, skirts, baby items and now art. I'm planning a room redo for my 9 yr old's bedroom and she's been begging me for a Paris room. So, I'm slowy - very slowly finding things for her room and will be changing everything from the wall color to the bed skirt. The other day I came across a blank canvas at Goodwill for $1.50. I knew I'd use it for something but by the time I got home I knew its purpose. Here's how I made a personalized chevron canvas for her future Paris room.

Now, you can leave it or you can personalize it with a monogram or a picture or whatever you feel like doing! I chose to do an M for my daughter's name. After a few texts back and forth with my sister, I decided to paint the M gold. {Stay tuned for more gold painted accents for this future Paris room!}

 I had a big chipboard M laying around from Hobby Lobby so that's what I used to make this. I had also bought Antique Gold craft paint for another project so I was able to make quick work of this.

 Or if monograms aren't your thing, hot glue a smaller canvas to the center and personalize it any way you want! Decoupage a picture to the top canvas or have your child draw on it or whatever you want! Be creative! There are tons of ways to use canvases.

Check out my other chevron tutorials here.

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I'm sharing this with some these parties.

Framed Moss Monogram {Tutorial}

I'm sure by now everyone has Spring fever! Down here in the South, last week's pollen was incredibly thick and everything was a bright green color. Then came a much needed heavy downpour that really helped to wash everything off. My azaleas are blooming, the trees are all a beautiful bright green and some people have already had to mow their grass. Ours will need it by the weekend. With all this warm, Spring weather down here, I have been trying to find ways to bring the green indoors without the pollen. I found some inspiration and thought I'd share it with you.

 Pottery Barn has these Live Moss Letters for $79/each.

Or you could do what I did and make your own for less than $10/each. Here's how:

 Now, hot glue small sections at a time and wrap the moss around each edge. Cut off any excess.

I decided to take an 11x14 frame that I already had and wrap linen fabric around the glass and back, putting it back in the frame and then "hanging" my "M" from the top with black and white striped ribbon. I did put dots of hot glue on the back to secure the ribbon and some of the linen. I love how this turned out! Now, I am just trying to decide where I want to hang this. I might do a monogram wall. Stay tuned!

I'm sharing this with some of these parties.

Monogram Picks {Tutorial}

Last week I bought some cute tin buckets at Old Time Pottery and had planned to make mini Easter baskets for my girls' teachers. I didn't want to load them up with candy and we have already given them handmade necklaces for Christmas and I am pretty sure we gave them silk flower pins earlier this year, so I decided to use the buckets for flowers. While I was at Hobby Lobby this morning, I saw that the chipboard letters were 50% off, making the small ones, only .50 cents each. That's when it hit me that I could make monogram picks to put in the flowers. They can always use the picks some other way when the plant dies, but with all the cheery, bright-colored scrapbook paper options, I couldn't pass this up. I hope they like them!

Linking to some of these parties!

Spring Wreath Makeover

I've been putting off updating my wreath for way too long. I just couldn't bring myself to change it up while the porch and everything out there was dirty and also needing a makeover. So, a couple days ago when Hubs announced he would mow the lawn and powerwash the porch/house today, I finally got the urge to redo the wreath! I definitely had the easiest job today of planting mailbox flowers and fixing up the wreath while Hubs did {and is still doing} all the dirty, sweaty work. And I am very pleased with the results. Here's the low-down, although it is pretty much self-explanatory.

I'm linking to some of these parties!
And linking to this Spring Door Decor Party!