what to do about those blank walls

Ever since we had some work done in our kitchen and it was repainted, I've been hesitant to hang anything on the walls. I didn't want to hang what we had there before, and I also didn't want to hang "just anything" for the sake of filling up blank wall space. I had shopped at a few places and brought wall art home with me, only to find it didn't look as good as I had hoped. I didn't find anything I was looking for online either.

One day, I was in the basement doing laundry, and was looking around at some of my home decor stash. I brought up this white frame and yellow tray, affixed it to the kitchen wall with Command strips, and stood back...

 I liked it!

Here's what the kitchen wall looks like in its entirety. You can see I still need something on the other side of the china cabinet. But here's the thing: I think I want to get rid of the china cabinet, the cart and stool and instead put a cube storage unit on that wall. I could then fill the cubes with cookbooks, large serving dishes, and small kitchen appliances that I have stored in the basement. But I don't think Brian's too keen on the idea of getting rid of the china cabinet. It has sentimental value. It was the first good piece of furniture that we bought in our early married days. We bought it at a beautiful vintage furniture store that is now out of business. There's nowhere else in the house to put it.

Here's what I had in mind: the IKEA Kallax cubes - turned on its side, of course. We could even put legs on the bottom of it to raise it up a bit. 

When I was in the basement rummaging around, I also brought up these two canvas pieces and again, used Command strips to hang them on an empty section of the living room wall. Command strips are a lifesaver in my house because I change things around all the time! Not to mention, no nail holes to deal with.

Where do you find unique ideas or art for blank walls?

how to combat cabin fever

Hello, February! We're one month closer to spring. If you live in a cold climate like me, where you're already tired of bitter cold temps, days on end of cloudy skies, perhaps lots of snow, then you know how cabin fever sets in once the holidays are over. Going to and from work or running errands just doesn't cut it for "getting out of the house". 

So, when the weekends roll around, I'm always looking for something to do ~ antique shopping, museums, a new restaurant ~ something, anything to keep the feeling of the four walls closing in around me.

A couple of weekends ago, me, Brian and my aunt went to Milwaukee, Wisconsin for the day. We love going to the Public Market - an indoor venue with different fresh food vendors, artisan markets, a couple of restaurants, and a wine bar. We had lunch there at a place called The Green Market. I had the most incredible salad of mixed greens and just about every kind of veggie you can think of - except for mushrooms and beets. Those are the only two veggies I can't tolerate. What's really cool is that it's build-your-own. You can pick and choose from 50 different vegetables and toppings! 

Across the street was a West Elm store. I was familiar with West Elm online, but I've never been in one of their on-site stores. It was ultra-modern with really loud music, so not my taste, but was fun to look around.

At least Brian found a comfortable chair to relax in!

On from West Elm, we took a walk around the neighborhood and all of a sudden, the fog rolled in from Lake Michigan. Was really cool to be walking around in the fog, but glad we weren't driving in it.

Loved the architecture of these buildings.

Our walk brought us to an Anthropologie store, so we just had to go in and look around. (Poor Brian. He's such a good sport.) I rarely buy anything from Anthro - overpriced and most things made in China - but the eye candy is fun. And they certainly have a knack for creating beautiful displays.

Later in the day, we stopped at our favorite Milwaukee coffee shop to relax and have a warm drink.

The inside is hip and painted in vibrant colors with local art, lots of plants, homemade treats, and wonderful coffee.

Speaking of art, last weekend a friend invited me to one of those painting classes that are so popular now. What was the first thing I noticed when we walked in? The decor, of course! We had time to linger before the actual start time, so I walked around and took some photos. Love this green sofa!

The little kitchen had an interesting backsplash - squares of wood.

This industrial style mirror was in the bathroom.

All set up and ready to go. We were painting coffee mugs with creamy coffee and a heart design in the middle. It was harder than it looked!

Here we are, all done. I'm standing by the window in the beige sweater. Don't look too closely at my masterpiece. ;-) I really messed up on the hearts and couldn't fix it. And I think my cup handle looks more like a bunny ear. 

Not sure what we're going to do this weekend, but I'm sure we'll find somewhere to go or something to do. We do have some home projects to work on, but we have to throw in a little fun, too, right? 

What fun things have you been doing lately on the weekends?

do-it-yourself simple art

 Folks, when I say simple, I mean simple. And when I say art...well, let's just say

that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. But sometimes I get get in a creative

mood and just start playing around with supplies I have on-hand. 

For this first piece, I took a blank canvas and spray-painted it. Then I took

a stencil and used my mad sponge-painting skills. Then outlined most of

the circles with scrapbooking markers. Glued on a happy saying that I found

in my scrapbooking materials. As I said - simple. Even a little kid could

do this. It was fun playing around, no intention in mind.

This second piece of art was inspired by this idea I saw on Lisa Leonard's site.

A simple poster hung from a wooden hanger? And she's selling these?! No

offense to Lisa - in fact, I'm a huge fan of her jewelry - but take a beautiful

card you've gotten in the mail, a picture from a magazine, a scrapbook print,

a vintage photo, a small poster, a graphic print you found online - and you

have your own piece of art to hang from a wooden hanger. And if you don't

have a wooden hanger, well heck. Go out and buy one. They're cheap.

I've seen them in thrift stores and even IKEA sells them.

Now here's the funny part - these posters that she's selling? I have the

same prints, but in smaller form. They were from a calendar that I got for free

 when it was included in a jewelry purchase from Lisa's site last year.

I never used the calendar, but I kept the prints because I thought they

were cool. Since my prints are small, I was able to clip two of them

to a wooden hanger. Hmm, now that I'm looking at the wooden part of the

hanger, I could do some kind of simple embellishment on that wood.

For now, these two pieces of simple "art" are hung from the brackets of

Phil's memory shelf in my office/mom cave/personal space (what was formerly

 Phil's room). This room still isn't totally done, plus you know me and moving

things around. Eventually, I think I'd like to put three small black and white

prints underneath that shelf to balance things out.

 My niece's birthdays were this week. I was going to buy birthday cards,

but when I saw the prices of the ones I liked in the stores, I just couldn't buy 

them - $3.99 for a simple card? I can't justify spending $8 on two cards

that will barely get looked at and then thrown in the trash. So, again, the

paper crafting materials came out. I didn't get fancy with the cards either.

Kept it simple. But I liked how they turned out and it didn't cost me anything

since I used supplies that I already had.

Linking up to Cozy Little House Tweak it Tuesday. 

However, it's now Wednesday - so, happy Wednesday from cold,

gloomy, rainy Illinois!

snowy friday musings and doings ~ or ~ of plants, art, and cats

  Hello friends, and happy Friday from snowy Illinois.

I am so sick of winter...the gray skies, the cold, the snow.  Seems never-ending

at times. I was supposed to leave this morning for Des Moines, Iowa with my friend,

but our road trip is delayed because of the snow storm that hit the Midwest yesterday.

We'll be leaving tomorrow morning instead. My friend's son attends college in

Des Moines and is performing in the musical, Next to Normal. That's the main reason

behind the road trip. We'll be staying overnight and coming home Sunday evening.

The puttering and creating around Comfy House continues. I've always loved plants

and in just the past couple of years, have had a fondness for succulents. From articles

and photos I've seen in magazines and on Pinterest, terrariums are once

again in style, too. Last time I was at Goodwill, I found a couple of glass bowls

for only $1.99 each, and I thought they'd make great terrarium containers. I obviously

have a long way to go with creativity in creating terrariums, but it's a start.

 This one needs major help. The Christmas cactus plant is simply way too tall

for a shallow planter. I'll need to dig it up and put it in its own taller container and find

a shorter succulent to plant in its place.

There's just something about a grouping of plants in front of a window that's

so beautiful...

 or even clustered together on a dresser top in a spare bedroom. The Poinsettia from

Christmas is still doing pretty well!

 Speaking of creating, I tried my hand at a couple of other new art projects.

A couple of weeks ago in a blog post, I showed this simple paper art page
 that I made. I went to Hobby Lobby to look for a mat and frame, but no luck.
This page was 6x6 and it seems impossible to find a pre-cut mat and simple frame
 that fits this size of paper.

So I went to Plan B. I'd never worked with Mod Podge before, but couldn't hurt to

try, right? I took a piece of canvas and spray-painted it blue, then glued the paper

to the canvas and added some letter stickers. Then I used Mod Podge over the whole thing.

Learned the hard way that you don't want to use Mod Podge on anything that
 is raised - such as the hearts on this paper! So now the hearts look rather flat
 and funky, but I'm slowly learning that things don't have to be perfect.
 Pretty good is good enough. At least the process was fun. :-)

And the two white squares with black ink designs leaning against the books?

Those are Zentangle drawings. Have you heard of Zentangle? Here's a great

explanation from tanglepatterns.com:

Zentangles are miniature pieces of unplanned, abstract, black and white art
 created in a very structured method from an ensemble of repetitive patterns
 on a 3.5-inch (89 mm) square paper tile. They are not only exquisitely beautiful,
they are fun and relaxing to create.The process of creating a Zentangle® is a
 form of “artistic meditation” as one becomes completely engrossed in making
 each pattern, deliberately focusing on “one stroke at a time”®.
The creativity options and pattern combinations are boundless.
And anyone can do it!

 I took a class the other night on basic Zentangle. There is so much to learn

and it obviously takes a lot of practice! The tile on the left was my first one - I did

that in the class. The tile on the right is the one I worked on at home the other night

until 1 a.m.! I've been looking at various web sites and youtube tutorials to learn

more and practice more patterns.

I have a "bad tummy" today. I think it's because of the slight anxiety I have

about going away tomorrow. So while the laundry is going and I'm watching the

snowflakes falling gently out the window, I think I'll make like Monkey and Zippo

before continuing on with some housework. I usually don't indulge in lying around

and reading until right before bed, but I need that little bit of rest today.

 Just in case you were wondering where Clementine was...

the art of making things

 Papercrafting...cards, scrapbooking, mixed media ~

Do you indulge?

I don't necessarily consider myself crafty, especially compared to a lot of you

out there in Blogland. I don't sew, knit, or crochet. I don't make my own

ornaments or Christmas decorations. I think that's why I'm especially in awe

of those of you who can do any or all of these things!

I do enjoy my papercrafting, however. I've made a few scrapbooks;

I sometimes make homemade cards; I'm working on a Smashbook;

and I've also made a couple of pictures using scrapbooking papers,

embellishments, and rubber stamps.

 I made this bird picture a few years ago.

 And this picture, I made a little over a year ago.

It's temporarily on top of my secretary desk in the master bedroom, leaning 

against the wall in a vignette setting.

 Do you do any crafting? If so, what kind? Do you make things 

for yourself or loved ones?

Linking up to Claudia's Favorite Thing #14