Making a clock/goodbye dead zone

For a while now I have been looking at the corner wall in my living room and thinking, "I really wish there was something there to fill that space."

First I put in 3 vases full of billy blossoms, that helped a little, you can see them there by the couch. But today I decided to do something more!


My art supply store is having a sale on their canvas and paint supplies so I picked up a 10x20 canvas, I've had some clockworks hanging around my apartment waiting for inspiration to strike me and today it did. 


Here is what you need for this project:
1 canvas (whatever size suits your needs. I choose 10x20)
Masking tape
Acrylic paints in the colors you like (or the colors you need to mix the colors you like I picked yellow, orange and turquoise)
Ruler
Clockworks
Paintbrush 
Pencil

To begin I drew out the lines for my stripes (I drew them so light that the photos showed up as white so no photo for this step)


Then mask off for your first color, to prevent bleed through I primed along the masking tape with white paint.

Continue painting and masking until all your lines are painted. To speed things up you may want to use a cool hairdryer. 

Poke a hole through the canvas (I used a sharp pencil) and insert the clock works. At first I attached it with the canvas support but it didn't seem secure so I used double sided foam tape to stick it on to the canvas.


Attach the clock hands to the front (make sure they are in the right order, I had mine up for about 20 minuted before I realized the hour hand was moving faster then the minute hand hahaha)

Then just hang it up and enjoy what a bright fun pop of color it brings to your life!

Why didn't I think of that?!

I don't know about you, but sometimes when I see a DIY that seems just too darn obvious I have this "Oh DUH!" moment; and then am truly annoyed that I didn't think of it first. That is the case with today's project. I have been lusting after etsy projects similar to this one for a while now but don't have the budget right now to buy one. Enter the blogger behind Our First Nest, (a blog that you should be reading for all sorts of on the cheap DIY advice) who cleverly came up with this brilliant tutorial. I'm only upset that I didn't think of it first!


Well my boyfriend and I are just a couple of left coast kids so I had to make one for our beloved California. 


In order to do this project for free I selected a canvas that I have already painted over twice for a third go round. The first attempt being an ill conceived try at cherry blossoms, the second is seen below.

Don't fret- I took the little bird off first.

First I painted the whole canvas with two light coats of white acrylic paint

Then, between coats, while the paint was drying I created a California stencil. Now, I don't know how most people do this step, (probably with a printer). I just size my image to the exact size I want it to be on my computer screen, put a paper against the screen and trace it lightly with a pencil. (I wish I had a third hand so I could take a photo of this step) After it is traced I cut it out with an exacto knife

The state all cut out

After the state was cut out and the paint was dry I drew out 2" wide stripes across my 10" canvas and traced California on the left side. Then filled everything in with paint.

For the finishing touch, I added a heart to where we live now, San Francisco, and a second heart to where we used to live, (and where we hope to live again) San Diego.  

Here is the finished project in it's new home on our living room shelves. 

The whole project only took a few hours and it is absolutely my favorite attempt at painting on this canvas painting project so far. I hope if you like this project you might give it a try with your home state!

EDIT (later that day)

Then; in what can only be described as a state of crafting induced euphoria, I decided to take my new found skills and make an ampersand painting too!

I heart ampersand