Could It Be?

Could it be?

Is this for reals?

The internet is WORKING AGAIN?!?!

Hooray!!!

As of Saturday night, the internet finally decided to let me into my hotmail account for a split second before crashing {I guess that's better than not at all.} As of Sunday eve, it allowed me to view your blogs, but NO PHOTOS! How cruel is that! I kept reading all these tantalizing descriptions of the projects that you gals were working on and could not see a single photo or video to comment on! So if you think I've snubbed you in comments and email, that's SO NOT TRUE! I just could not view a thing!

Me patiently waiting... and wearing mismatched socks! hmmm....

Last night my darling hubby sat down for about an hour and worked away at the laptop and office computer to fix the problem. No virus! Whew! Just some random settings were changed from a recent vacation that we took and they never reset back to normal.. like the gal at the front desk said they would. ugh... but after many sighs, cries for help , and a few threats to the computer to "start working, or else" it finally kicked back in to gear!

Enjoying my favorite scent ever - Warm Apple Pie - while I wade through the email mess.

I'm working on catching up on comments, emails, and mailing stuff to you beautiful gals. And I am also working on the coolest way to show off the before and after photos of the office. I think you're gonna like it!

My bare and lonely music corner...

So till I get the hang of this html thing, here is a preview of project for the music corner. When we remade the office, it was decided that I needed something hanging in that blank expanse of wall above my keyboard to inspire me and of course look pretty.

Here's how the frame started: a see through red color. And see where the paint can is? That's where I painted. Holding the frame above the can to catch any drips. Right over the bare carpet. I know how to live on the edge!

I knew I wanted a collection of mismatched frames all painted black and creamy white with sayings and verses in them. What I didn't know was how I wanted to embelish them. Then I read this post over at Inspiring Creations {LOVE her} and decided to take a stab at her lovely paper flowers. I think they look like poppies... or the Mary Engelbreit flowers. So pretty.

I loved her idea of using sheet music-like paper for the flowers. And since this is the corner where I create music and carry on the tradition of several generations of pianists, it only felt right to have most every element of my frames mean something to me.

So I took one of my grandmothers old music books and found a song that I loved, "I Need Thee Every Hour." That song melts my heart every time I hear it!

After scanning it onto the computer, I printed out two sheets and traced five sizes of circles onto the pages. As you can see, I used very exclusive and precise objects to get the patterns for my circles: a drinking glass, water bottle, small jar candle, a pencil sharpener, and the lid to the water bottle. So simple - use what ya got! I love that.

Then to fancy up the edges, I used Dark Walnut distress ink {which my hubby loves, I think I may have convinced him to get me one in every color! haha!} Don't bother distressing the whole thing, just the edges and part of flower that will be visible. There is no precise science here other than dab and rub till you get the desired effect.

While the flowers dried, I printed off a favorite verse for the frame, freehanded the wavy lines around it and distressed it a bit as well.  It took all of 2 minutes, and at this point the petals were ready.

Be sure to lay the flower petals one on top of the other to make sure no "white" spots are showing through. I didn't at first and had to re-stain a bit here and there.

Then crumple it up. Go for it. I know you might be scared like I was, but I just dove in a did it... fully knowing that I could make another set if I had to.

By the way, if one size came out too wonky or lopsided, I just trimmed it a bit, not caring if it were perfect. Why? Because when you crumple them all up to get the lovely texture, the wonky sides make it look all the better. I love a project that can use my imperfection in cutting!

I decided to add two leaves on either side of the flower grouping. These I just free handed into two sizes of leaves - one large and one small for each leaf.

By now the frame was {pretty much, almost} dry. Good enough for me! I hot glued each layer of the flowers to one another and after losely placing on the frame to make sure I liked the grouping, I hot glued the the flowers and leaves right to the frame. I love them! Now I just need something to place in the center. Everything I have in my jars of goodies is either too big or way to tiny to even be seen. Ideas?

I attached the verse with scrapbooking stickies and the lovely floral pattern is simply a 12x12 piece of scrapbook paper that I attached to the back of the frame with masking tape.

Old crunchy masking tape. That way I could play around with the placement of the pattern and text without ruining the page. Oh yea, see the Goodwill price of $1.99? That's great! But I got this baby at the Fancy Store {Goodwill Outlet}, by the pound... so it actually cost me all of 40 cents! Woo Hoo!

I love the final product! And now am schemeing up some coordinating ideas for the other two {or three, or four} small frames that will accompany it in my music corner. Every time I sit down to play, I will be inspired by this beautiful verse. And hopefully it will draw me into a place of deep song where I just get lost in the music.

What words are inspiring you today? How are you incorporating them into your life/home?

All photos taken by yours truly.

This post linked to Kimba's DIY day!